Subpoenas issued in Patton Village road rage incident

HOUSTON The Montgomery County District Attorney's Office on Wednesday issued grand jury subpoenas, 15 of them. On that list are Patton Village police officers, state troopers and the man accused of road rage. They will be questioned in front of a grand jury on Tuesday. Prosecutors want to know whether what did or did not happen was a crime.

Ever since that September morning on Highway 59 in Montgomery County that prompted a 911 call, Randy Beams has had a lot of questions.

"You just don't have court in the Flying J parking lot," Beams said. "Those police officers, they're not the DA and the judge."

And now the Montgomery County District Attorney's Office does, too.

"It's a situation we definitely need to look into," Montgomery County Assistant DA Phil Grant said.

Grant issued 15 subpoenas Wednesday, mostly to law enforcement officers. He wants them to tell a grand jury exactly what happened and why a man who allegedly was waving a gun at Beams was not arrested, even after Beams says he smashed his window.

"I was in fear for my life," Beams said.

Instead, right there in the parking lot where police responded, Beams says it got strange when a he a Patton Village police officer asked this question

"He said, 'What's your time worth? About $400?'" Beams recalled.

Someone showed up with the cash and the man was let go. Patton Village's mayor is concerned.

"That never should have been said and that officer will be dealt with very, very severely," Patton Village Mayor Pamela Munoz said. "I don't want you to entice anyone or to tell anyone if we have a dirty cop. I want him busted."

An internal police investigation is underway while the DA's office is just starting theirs.

"We're going to look at the whole situation, making charging decisions whether the individual detained at the scene committed some sort of criminal violation or whether or not the police officers involved acted appropriately," Grant said. "Whether or not their behavior was criminal versus bad judgment or whether it's just perfectly sound judgment."

And in the middle is the other driver. We wanted to hear his side, so we went to his place. His roommate, Trey Scott, told us he was inside, but asleep.

"He's a licensed gun-holder, so I would imagine he might have had one on him," Scott said. "I mean he has the right to protect himself. I don't know the situation, though."

The basic offense report from Patton Village says when asked that day, an assistant DA refused to accept charges in this case. Well, on Wednesday that same assistant DA said that prosecutor doesn't recall having that conversation.

Patton Village's mayor says if the DA's office decides charges should have been filed, the consequences will be harsh.