Ex-Police Officer Sentenced to Probation in Road Rage Case

A former Lawrence police officer has been sentenced to 12 months of probation for threatening another driver with a gun on a suburban Kansas City highway in a case of road rage.

The Lawrence Journal-World reports that 35-year-old Jeffrey Brian Holtzman faces up to five months in prison if he violates the terms of the probation under the sentence imposed Thursday in Johnson County District Court.

He initially was charged with aggravated assault but pleaded guilty in June to a reduced charge of criminal threat. The victim told police that he was driving on Interstate 435 near Interstate 35 in October 2018 when Holtzman pulled alongside him and pointed a handgun at him. It wasn’t clear what prompted the incident.