Crime & Safety

CHP Arrests Novato Man Following Road Rage Incident

Woman tells investigators the man threatened her, flashed a badge, then drove head-on toward her car and swerved at the last second.

A Novato man who reportedly played “chicken” with his truck and flashed a badge at a woman during a road rage incident was arrested and faces four felony counts, the California Highway Patrol said Monday.

CHP officers used a license plate and description of the suspect to arrest Martin Allen Clem, 52 at his home in Bel Marin Keys on Friday morning. CHP searched Clem’s Chevrolet truck and found two loaded handguns, a civilian-model “Taser,” a machete, marijuana and an object that resembled a badge. Officers also found that Clem had a suspended driver’s license and was not a law enforcement officer.

Clem was booked at Marin County Jail on suspicion of false imprisonment with a threat of violence, assault with a deadly weapon, threatening crimes to terrorize and carrying a concealed firearm in a vehicle, all felonies. He faces misdemeanor counts of impersonating a peace officer and driving on a suspended license plus an infraction of possession of marijuana.

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The CHP received a cellular 911 call at 10:58 a.m. Friday from a female driver who said she had been threatened by a man in a Chevy truck who intentionally cut her off on westbound Bel Marin Keys Boulevard and blocked her path. She said the man approached her car and flashed a badge at her while using threatening language about how she was driving.

After the man left, the woman continued driving westbound on Bel Marin Keys Boulevard toward Highway 101 until she saw the truck parked on the side of the road, according to the CHP report. The man pulled his truck into traffic and intentionally cut off the woman a second time and blocked her movement on the roadway, the woman told investigators. She said the man approached her on foot again and continued to use threatening language, displayed a badge and threatened her with arrest.

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The man left the area westbound on Bel Marin Keys Boulevard again, but turned his truck around and began driving eastbound toward the woman and swerved into her lane, the CHP said. The truck came within several feet of the woman’s car before swerving out of the way, according to the report.


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