Gastonia Police Investigates Dangerous, Bizarre Road Rage Case; 1 Man Charged wccbcharlotte.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wccbcharlotte.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Gastonia Police are seeking the public s help in locating a Cleveland County man who faces numerous charges related to a road rage incident involving two motorists.
Milton Lee Edwards Jr., 23, of Vale, faces three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, injury to personal property, reckless driving with wanton disregard, driving with license revoked and expired registration card/tag.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts should call police, according to a release from Gastonia Police.
“Please be assured that the Gastonia Police Department is taking this incident very seriously,” Chief Travis Brittain said Wednesday. “The GPD has presented its evidence to the magistrate and has conferred with the district attorney and warrants were issued today.”
Travis Brittain attends the Martin Luther King Unity Awards ceremony every year, but the thought that he might one day receive the same award never crossed his mind.
Gaston Clergy and Citizens Coalition recently named Brittain – Gastonia’s 24th chief of police – as one of the 2021 recipients of the Martin Luther King Unity Award.
Presented by GC3 annually since 2004, the award recognizes current or former Gaston County citizens who have continuously helped unite people across lines of class, race, gender and faith through community service.
From a young age, the Ashbrook High graduate knew he would work in public safety. Brittain first connected with Gastonia Police Department in 1989, then a teenager, through the city’s Explorer program, which he joined before he could drive a car.
The Rev. Dr. Rodney Freeman grins when he shares the story of how his grandfather had him destined to become an attorney. We were sitting on his porch and Daddy Jake looked at me and said Son you re going to be a lawyer, Freeman laughs. Because you talk all the time.
Daddy Jake didn t exactly foretell the future, but his chatterbox grandson, now the pastor at Mount Zion Restoration Church, still describes himself as a man who s never met a stranger. I still love to talk, Freeman said. That hasn t changed.
On Monday, Freeman will be one of three honorees with this year s Gaston County MLK Unity Awards.
A Gastonia congregation spent their Sunday morning worshiping with and getting to know the people who serve and protect them.
In observance of National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, which was Saturday, Chief Travis Brittain, Capt. Nancy Brogdon and Sgt. Josh Smith visited Eastside Church of the Nazarene during the church’s 11 a.m. service.
Brogdon oversees the East District, where Eastside Church is located, and Smith manages the department’s body camera program.
Brittain and the 178 officers at Gastonia Police Department put on a polyester uniform, vest and badge when they go to work, but underneath, they’re like anyone else, Brittain told service attendees.