BRAINERD — The 43-year-old man who faced multiple charges stemming from an Easter road rage incident at Walmart in Baxter this year pleaded guilty to second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon.
Adam Jon Overby appeared Tuesday, Oct. 11, before Judge Kristine DeMay via Zoom. Overby, along with his public defender Conrad Kragness, pleaded guilty to second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon during his plea hearing.
DeMay dismissed the other two charges against Overby — felony first-degree damage to property with a foreseeable risk of bodily harm and a misdemeanor for obstructing the legal process.
Since his arrest, Overby told DeMay he participated in substance abuse counseling, personal counseling and is starting anger management. DeMay took Overby’s current progress in treatment and counseling into consideration before sentencing him to five years of probation. Along with probation, Overby will need to complete his treatment before May of 2023 or he would be required to report to jail for 60 days.
On April 17, Overby was arrested in Brainerd after a road rage incident at the Baxter Walmart parking lot. Officers learned a man, later identified as Overby, hit a car with a shovel in the parking lot. When officers arrived, they found a man with an injured arm and learned the suspect left the area in a black Toyota Tacoma with a brush guard on the front.
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The victim told officers he saw Overby driving erratically westbound on Washington Street and, at one point, Overby almost rear-ended another vehicle.
On Elder Drive at Glory Road, driving south into the parking lot at Walmart, Overby pulled alongside the victim's vehicle, which was in the lane designated to go straight into the parking lot. Overby was in the right turn lane. The report stated when the light changed, Overby proceeded straight instead of turning right.
The victim told Overby he couldn't go straight and then gave him the middle finger. Overby, in turn, "flipped him off" and drove at his vehicle, cutting him off in the parking lot.
Overby then blocked in the victim’s vehicle, got out of his truck, grabbed a shovel and proceeded to strike the victim's driver's side window, shattering it. The victim said he put up his left arm to block the blow so he wouldn't be hit in the head by the shovel. The shovel struck him on the left arm near his elbow.
The Baxter Police Department talked with three witnesses, who provided similar descriptions of the event. Police also received a video and photograph of Overby’s vehicle from a Walmart surveillance video.
Brainerd officers located Overby’s truck later the same day in front of a residence on the 100 block of B Street Northeast in Brainerd, after which they saw him through a window lying on a bed. Officers then knocked on the window to wake Overby and told him to go to the door.
After he opened the door, officers tried to speak with Overby outside, but Overby quickly retreated into the house. He then resisted officers’ efforts to place him under arrest. Officers eventually arrested Overby and transported him to the Crow Wing County Jail.
TIM SPEIER, staff writer, can be reached on Twitter @timmy2thyme , call 218-855-5859 or email tim.speier@brainerddispatch.com .
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