Tolga Cabukel
HANCOCK COUNTY — An altercation between two semi-truck drivers on I-70, including one driver who is accused of using a hammer on another driver’s truck, landed an Ohio man in the Hancock County Jail facing numerous felony crimes.
Tolga Cabukel, 43, 260 block of Grove Avenue, Dayton, has been charged with a Level 3 felony count of criminal confinement while armed with a deadly weapon, a Level 5 felony count of criminal confinement where a vehicle is used, a Level 5 felony count of attempt to commit battery by means of a deadly weapon, a Level 6 felony count of criminal recklessness and two misdemeanor charges from an incident in early June.
Cabukel had his initial hearing in Hancock County Superior Court 1, Wednesday, June 2. Judge D.J. Davis set a $10,000 cash bond. Cabukel is scheduled back in court June 21, court records show.
According to a probable cause affidavit, officials from the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department were called to the area of 99.7 MM eastbound I-70 around 2 a.m. June 2. Dispatch advised there was a fight in progress on the interstate between two semi-truck drivers and a witness saw one person with a hammer smacking another semi-truck. The fight was also causing the blockage of two lanes on the interstate for travelers heading eastbound.
By the time law enforcement arrived, both semi-truck drivers had left the area, the report stated. However, around 2:30 a.m., local officials were called to assist the Henry County Sheriff’s Department, who were in a vehicle pursuit with a semi-truck and trailer on I-70 near the 110 MM heading westbound, the report stated.
Dispatch advised the suspect had been attacking people at the Love’s Truck Stop in Knightstown, with a screwdriver. Two deputies from the HCSD positioned stop sticks in the right and left lanes as they observed the suspect semi-truck approaching their location, the report stated. The semi-truck hit both sets of stop sticks, eventually flattening several tires. The semi-truck came to a slow stop near the 96 MM westbound I-70, officials said in the report.
The driver was identified by an Ohio driver’s license as Cabukel. Henry County officials noted they were with a male who stated earlier that he was heading eastbound on I-70 and Cabukel had cornered him in a manner he was not able to drive away.
The man told officials he passed Cabukel on I-70 and that for some reason Cabukel looked at him and started screaming, the report said. The man then told officials that Cabukel started to throw things out of his driver-side window at his semi-truck. Cabukel later passed the man in a construction area, he said, and that’s where Cabukel stopped him by stopping traffic and cornering him between the concrete barrier and the travel lanes.
The man noted in the report that Cabukel exited his semi and walked to the driver-side window of his semi and then began punching his window in attempt to break the glass. The man went on to say Cabukel than went back to his semi-truck, grabbed a hammer and broke his driver-side window with the hammer. The report noted the man did not get out of his semi-truck because he was afraid Cabukel had a knife or another weapon. The man told officials Cabukel hit the front of his semi-truck with the hammer and then threw the hammer at his windshield two to three times before the hammer broke the windshield.
The man said Cabukel then began to follow him eastbound until the man exited at I-70 at the New Castle exit where he spoke to officials from the Henry Country Sheriff’s Department. While officials were able to interview several witnesses to the incident, Cabukel refused to talk with deputies, the report stated.
The other truck driver in the incident was not charged.
