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Police say road rage led to fatal I-5 crash Raleigh Rodrigues Friday Dec 15, 2017 at 1:02 PM Dec 15, 2017 at 6:00 PM By Kaylee Tornay Mail Tribune A Talent man was arraigned Friday on manslaughter charges in a fatal road rage incident in which police allege he ran a motorcyclist off the road on Interstate 5. Raleigh Rodrigues, 65, is charged with first- and second-degree manslaughter for allegedly driving his pickup truck into 25-year-old Kevin Mayo, also of Talent, Thursday afternoon. The crash occurred near milepost 26 after the two drivers had been engaged in a "road rage incident that started several miles prior," according to a Friday press release from Oregon State Police. The release said Rodrigues, who was driving a 2001 Chevy pickup, intentionally swerved into Mayo's Yamaha motorcycle, forcing him off the road and sending him into the median. Mayo's motorcycle struck the cable barrier that's intended to stop vehicles from crossing into oncoming traffic. Paramedics treated him at the scene before he was transported to Asante Rogue Regional Medical Center, but he died of his injuries soon after. OSP Public Information Officer Jeff Proulx said witness statements led police to identify road rage as the cause of the crash. Rodrigues, who remained at the scene following the crash, was taken into custody and lodged in the Jackson County Jail. Jackson County Circuit Judge Timothy Barnack set Rodrigues' bail at $250,000. His next court date was scheduled for 4 p.m. Dec. 22. Proulx said OSP expects to be conducting interviews with witnesses for the next week at least, and will refrain from releasing some details about the case to allow witness testimonies to be uninfluenced by public information. He said road rage incidents that result in a fatality are "highly unusual." "I've been on the job 22 years and cannot think of one that I saw or heard of that resulted in a fatality," he said. He said OSP has received several reports this year of drivers making threats with a firearm during tense driving situations. Nationally, reports of violent road rage are up — incidents involving firearms nearly doubled from 2014 to 2017 — and were the focus of media attention this summer after a few high-profile cases in which angry drivers shot at others. Proulx said the best way to avoid dangerous situations with road rage is to slow down or pull over and let the other driver go. "Don't make it worse by being aggressive back," he said. — Reach reporter Kaylee Tornay at 541-776-4497 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/ka_tornay