LYNNWOOD, Wash. — A three-year veteran of the Edmonds Police Department was arrested after allegedly flashing a gun at another driver during a road rage incident in Lynnwood on Monday, Dec. 2.
Melinda Leen, 35, who was off duty and driving a Subaru at the time of the incident, faces a charge of second-degree assault.
Leen has not been officially charged. KING 5 is naming her because she serves in a position of authority.
Edmonds Police Chief Michelle Bennett confirmed Leen is an officer with the department. She was placed on administrative leave and an internal investigation is underway.
Just after 1 p.m. on Dec. 2, a Lynnwood police officer was sent to the intersection of 196th Avenue Southwest and 44th Avenue West. The 911 caller told dispatch a female driver flashed a pistol at him, according to a statement of probable cause.
Officers pulled the Subaru Forester over and detained the woman, later identified as Leen.
The other driver said the incident occurred when he was exiting southbound Interstate 5 onto 196th Street when the Subaru cut him off, narrowly missing the median and nearly pushing his vehicle off the road.
When they came to a stop at a traffic light, the other driver said Leen looked at him and he "raised both hands in a state of confusion." The woman raised her hands in a similar fashion, the driver told police.
Then, "next thing you know she reaches under either her chair or her side door and grabs a pistol and puts it up to the window...," the driver told police, per the statement of probable cause. The driver told police the woman pointed the gun at him.
Unable to drive away because of other vehicles around, the driver put up his hands and implied he thought he was going to be shot.
The driver later identified the woman and Leen was booked into Snohomish County Jail.