A Malden man was arrested last week after allegedly threatening a private snowplow driver in Somerville with a metal pipe-like object. The victim’s cell phone photos helped lead to the arrest.

On Tuesday, December 28, a road rage incident allegedly broke out on Sturtevant St. in the Assembly Square Mall area. The victim, who was driving a pickup truck equipped with a snowplow, told police that the suspect sped past him on the right and then made a sudden stop, stepped out of the car and came at him shouting a curse word and brandishing a red-and-silver metal object, shaped like a pipe.

The victim, whose 12-year-old daughter was also in the truck, used his cell phone to take several photos of the suspect holding the pipe as well as of the suspect’s car. He yelled, “I’ve got you now,” and at that, the suspect drove off.

The victim, who lives in Medford, reported the incident to Somerville police. Shortly thereafter, he spotted the suspect’s car parked outside the mall’s Bed, Bath & Beyond. Police were able to verify it was the same car by using the victim’s photo and descriptions.

As the car was being towed by police (pending a felony investigation), it’s driver returned to the vehicle and began yelling at both the tow truck driver and the police officer on scene.

When confronted by the officer, he admitted to the traffic altercation, telling the officer that the driver of  “the truck with the plow was attempting to plow his car off the road" and this was the reason he brandished the red and silver metal object.

The suspect, Omar Otero-Torres, 23, of 14 Shawmut Terrace, Malden, was arrested and charged with assault with a dangerous weapon. A red-and-silver metal object was retrieved from his car.