What to Know
- Melissa Matthews, 43, of East Stroudsburg, is charged with aggravated menacing, unlawful imprisonment and failure to provide information at collision scene resulting in property damage.
- Matthews was involved in a crash with another vehicle at a restaurant parking lot in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware. She refused to exchange information and held the other driver at gunpoint inside her vehicle when he threatened to call police, investigators said.
- Matthews was arrested after witnesses blocked her vehicle. The other driver was not hurt.
A Pennsylvania woman is accused of holding a man hostage at gunpoint after the two were involved in a car crash in Delaware.
Melissa Matthews, 43, of East Stroudsburg, is charged with aggravated menacing, unlawful imprisonment and failure to provide information at collision scene resulting in property damage.
Matthews was driving a pickup truck when she crashed into another vehicle in the parking lot of the Big Chill Surf Cantina on Coastal Highway in Rehoboth Beach around 1 a.m. Sunday, police said.
Matthews allegedly refused to exchange insurance information with the driver of the other vehicle, a 37-year-old man. Police said the man then agreed to sit inside Matthews’ pickup truck to discuss the terms of an agreement. While inside the vehicle, the man threatened to call police and Matthews then began driving down Coastal Highway, refusing to let him out, investigators said.
Matthews allegedly pulled out a handgun and held it as she drove.
Investigators said Matthews eventually got lost at a nearby development and witnesses blocked her vehicle until police arrived.
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Responding Delaware State Troopers found a Glock-22 .40 caliber handgun inside the pickup truck and Matthews was arrested, officials said.
Matthews was arraigned and committed to the Delores J. Baylor Correctional Institution on a $7,100 secured bond.
