A reserve deputy constable in Harris County, Texas, has been charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon after allegedly shooting a woman in the head during a road rage altercation.
Precinct 6 Deputy Constable Kenneth Caplan was taken into custody Wednesday morning after a 20-year-old woman accused him of opening fire into her vehicle, with a bullet grazing the left side of her head, a local CBS affiliate reported.
“I feel like I got a taste of death, honestly,” the victim, who does not want to be identified, told the station.
Mr. Caplan allegedly fired on the woman after she honked at him when he cut her off on the 610 South Loop in Houston on Nov. 11.
“All of a sudden I’m driving, and this guy cuts me off. He was about to hit me. I switched to the other lane, I got in front of him, and I cut him off. I guess that pissed him off … and he just fired at me. And then all of sudden I heard a ring in my ear,” she told the station.
Mr. Caplan, who had a female passenger in the car, then allegedly fled the scene.
The victim accused the female passenger of moving out of the way so the officer could get a clear shot into her vehicle.
“She leaned back,” the victim said.
After she took a bullet to the head, the victim was able to pull over and call 911.
She was released from Memorial Hermann hospital three days later with what doctors described as “non-life-threatening injuries.”
The Harris County Constable’s office said in a statement that it “neither condones nor tolerates the actions taken by Caplan,” a local NBC affiliate reported.
“The necessary measures were taken to collect his credentials and remove him from our status,” the statement said.
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
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