A 30-year-old man is claiming that he slapped another man for driving too close to him, saying he thought the victim was falling asleep and needed to be woken up.<\/p>\n
In the continuation of the bench trial for Ryan Duenas in Superior Court, Duenas said he slapped the alleged victim because he thought he was falling asleep.<\/p>\n
\u201cI slapped him to wake him up because I thought he was falling asleep\u2026that\u2019s why he was trying to hit me,\u201d Duenas said. <\/p>\n
The bench trial started last Monday and is still ongoing. <\/p>\n
Duenas was represented by his counsel, Robert Torres, and the government was represented by Office of the Attorney general assistant attorney general Robert Glass Jr. <\/p>\n
Superior Court Associate Judge Joseph Camacho is presiding over the case. <\/p>\n
On or about Feb. 15, 2018, Duenas allegedly slapped another man in his vehicle for driving too close behind him, allegedly nearly hitting the back of his vehicle, in Chalan Kiya Drive. <\/p>\n
Duenas has since been charged with one count of assault and battery and one count of disturbing the peace. <\/p>\n
Aside from thinking that the victim was falling asleep, Duenas also testified that he was scared that the victim was a threat to his safety and he was merely practicing self-defense. <\/p>\n
Duenas told the court that after he got out of his vehicle and confronted the victim who was driving a pickup truck, the victim allegedly threw a punch that Duenas dodged and retaliated with a slap to the right side of the victim\u2019s face. <\/p>\n
According to the victim\u2019s testimony, he did not throw the first punch and that he was just sitting in his vehicle when Duenas approached him. <\/p>\n
The victim said that Duenas had a machete, but Duenas said he did have a machete in his vehicle but did not bring it with him when he confronted the victim.<\/p>\n
A witness of the prosecution, Duenas\u2019s brother, said that he did not see a punch thrown by Duenas nor did he see Duenas back up as to dodge a punch during the altercation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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