The motorcyclist accused of firing a pistol at a car on the Earl Rudder Freeway Tuesday night has given College Station Police his explanation.
According to the arrest report, 43 year old Sonny Holligan of Bryan says he had been run off the road once earlier in the day.
So when a car was following his motorcycle too close as both were traveling north on the freeway, Holligan says, quoting the arrest report, this “pissed him off”.
Holligan says he pointed his fingers at the driver to get him to back off. Then the motorcyclist says he reached into his boot, took out a semi-automatic pistol, and fired one shot into the ground to scare off the driver.
Instead of being scared off, the driver, off-duty Bryan policeman Blake Bell, continued to follow the motorcyclist in his personal vehicle until both stopped in the Wheeler Ridge neighborhood of Bryan.
Holligan was arrested and charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, deadly conduct, tampering with evidence, and possession of a firearm by a felon.
Bell told investigators he had slowed down to allow merging traffic entering the freeway from the Rock Prairie Road on-ramp. In the end, no one was hurt and Holligan was taken to jail.
Holligan’s bond was set at $200,000 dollars. Court records indicate 12 criminal cases dating back to 1987. In April of last year, Hollligan was sentenced to 15 months in jail for violating probation from a prior conviction of stealing a firearm.