Ham Lake Man Faces Felony Charge After St. Cloud Road Rage Incident

ST. CLOUD (WJON News) -- A man from the north Twin Cities metro faces a felony charge after a road rage incident in St. Cloud.

According to the criminal complaint filed in Stearns County District Court, 28-year-old Zacharie Ziniel of Ham Lake pointed a handgun at the occupants of another vehicle.

St. Cloud Police were dispatched to a gun call for an incident at the intersection of Highway 15 and 3rd Street North at around 8:40 p.m. Tuesday.

Two men told police they had inadvertently cut off a pickup truck, and when they came up to the intersection, a passenger in the truck had his window rolled down, was yelling at them, and pointed a handgun at them.

The victims got cell phone video of the truck's license plate and submitted it to police along with a description of the man.

Court records show the pickup is registered to Ziniel, and the description matched the victims' account.

Officers eventually made contact with Ziniel, who admitted to getting into an altercation with the victims for driving erratically. Ziniel allegedly claimed he did have his pistol out, but was just showing the gun to the driver of his truck and denied pointing it at the men.

Ziniel is charged in Stearns County District Court with one felony count of threats of violence with reckless disregard.