COEUR d’ALENE — A man is facing a felony charge for allegedly hitting someone with his vehicle during a road rage incident. 

Roy L. Vantassel Jr., 45, of Coeur d’Alene, is charged with aggravated battery. 

The charge stems from Aug. 31, when another driver reportedly did not let Vantassel’s SUV merge in front of him while both were driving north along Government Way in Hayden. 

The other man told police that, when he was stopped and waiting to make a left turn onto Honeysuckle Avenue, Vantassel stopped his SUV about 5 feet behind him and got out of his vehicle. Vantassel allegedly grabbed a rolled-up area rug out of the bed of the other man’s truck and threw it into the road. 

Court records indicate the other man called 911 and got out of his truck. He told police Vantassel made threatening comments, then got back inside his SUV. 

When the other man told Vantassel not to leave before police arrived, Vantassel allegedly “began driving forward” at a slow rate of speed and hit him with his SUV. The other man said he “jumped on the hood of (Vantassel’s) vehicle to avoid being run over.” 

Vantassel allegedly kept driving forward while a female passenger in his SUV shouted at him to let the other man go. 

After the other man slid off the hood of Vantassel’s vehicle, Vantassel reportedly left the scene. 

Multiple witnesses told police they saw Vantassel hit the other man with his SUV, knocking the man to the ground.

When police arrived, they observed that the other man was uninjured but “trembling during the entire interview and appeared in fear,” according to court records. 

“He was afraid he was going to be shot or killed by (Vantassel),” a sheriff’s deputy wrote in a report. 

Using a photo of Vantassel’s vehicle taken by the other man, police contacted Vantassel and he returned to the scene. He denied hitting the other man with his vehicle. 

Police arrested Vantassel at the scene. 

First District Judge Destry Randles ordered Tuesday that Vantassel be held on $15,000 bail, which Vantassel posted.