Hillsborough road rage driver shoots at deputy, Sheriff’s Office says
A driver involved in a road rage incident shot at a Hillsborough deputy Wednesday evening near Wimauma, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
It happened shortly after 6 p.m. on Balm Riverview Road near County Road 672, the agency said in a news release.
During a press conference Wednesday night, Sheriff Chad Chronister said Deputy Daniel Henry, 33, saw a green Saturn driving slowly, and the driver, Tracy Alan Swint, 49, “immediately starts getting aggressive ... and starts brake-checking the deputy.”
Henry tried to pass the Saturn, at which point, according to Chronister, Swint rolled down his window and fired a gun — striking the back passenger side door of Henry’s marked Tahoe, but not the deputy.
He said Henry, a patrol deputy who has been with the office since 2016, pulled over and relayed the vehicle’s information over the radio. Minutes later, the vehicle was spotted by another deputy. Chronister said that deputy called for backup and maintained a safe distance while waiting for the backup to arrive.
Deputies pulled Swint over and asked him to get out of his car.
“As he gets out of the car to surrender himself, peacefully, he kicks an empty beer can — one of the empty beer cans in the car,” Chronister said. “We now know there were several empty beer cans in the car. We know that he stopped at that residence because he and his wife were picking up a buddy to go to another local bar to continue drinking there.”
The sheriff said Swint told investigators “he got stressed out and that he let his emotions get the best of him.”
He also said he didn’t know he had shot at a law enforcement officer, according to Chronister, but the sheriff said he found that hard to believe because the Tahoe is marked and has reflective decals.
Swint is charged with aggravated battery on a law enforcement officer, shooting into an occupied vehicle and open carrying of a weapon, according to the Sheriff’s Office. Swint is being held at the Orient Road Jail on a $22,750 bond, according to Hillsborough jail records.
He said at this point in the investigation the Sheriff’s Office does not think the man’s wife was involved.
