A Tufts senior was arrested for allegedly attempting to hit a tow truck driver with his car on Jan. 24.
Antuan Johnson, 23, was apprehended on Jan. 31 and charged with assault with a deadly weapon.
Johnson encountered a Pat's Tow Service driver trying to put an immobilization boot on his black Mercedes outside of 9 Whitfield Rd., according to a report from the Somerville Police Department. The car, an ML320 model, was on a list of vehicles that had accumulated too many parking tickets. The towing service has the city's towing contract.
After exchanging words, Johnson allegedly assaulted the tow truck driver, forcing him to the ground. Then Johnson threw the boot into the street and drove in a "deliberate, aggressive manner" toward the tow truck driver, who was still on the ground, according to the police report.
Somerville police located the vehicle the following day in the Planet Fitness parking garage at 210 Boston Ave. Johnson lives at 270 Boston Ave.
When the police found the car, the license plate had been changed and the old license plate lay in the back seat of the car, the police report noted. Additionally, a University of Texas Longhorns sticker had been removed from the rear window. The car was then towed.
Police had called Johnson upon encountering the vehicle, and he told them that the car was in Connecticut with his girlfriend, according to the report.
Johnson was taken into custody on Jan. 31 when he went to the Somerville police station to claim the car after police convinced him that they had indeed found the vehicle.
