Police in Florida arrested a man Thursday on a second-degree murder charge, accusing him of fatally stabbing a man in a road rage incident that was sparked by an errant spit, The Tampa Bay Times reported.
Teddy Baltimore Smith Jr., 44, was arrested by Tampa police.
Wednesday, 56-year-old Gilbert Serna was a passenger in a Dodge Ram landscaping truck that was stopped at an intersection next to a BMW convertible allegedly driven by Smith, police said.
Serna spit out the window, and accidentally struck either the car or the driver, the Times reported.
"The driver of the BMW took offense and got out of his car to verbally confront Serna," Tampa police spokesman Steve Hegarty told the Times. “The driver of the BMW stabbed Serna in the upper body, then got back into his car, and drove away."
Jeffery Hunter, who was driving the Dodge Ram, told police he tried to follow the BMW before realizing how seriously Serna was injured, the Times reported. Police arriving at the scene performed CPR on Serna, but he was pronounced dead at a hospital, the Times reported.
Smith does not appear to have known the man he is accused of stabbing, Hegarty told the newspaper.
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