A Palm Beach Gardens-area man claims to have pulled a gun 'because he did not know who he was dealing with.'

PALM BEACH GARDENS — A man admitted to pulling a gun on a fellow motorist late Thursday during a road-rage incident in Palm Beach Gardens, city police records show.

Joseph Kyle Michaud, 28, was arrested early Friday on weapons-related offenses as well as on a charge of aggravated assault. A judge ordered he be held in the Palm Beach County Jail in lieu of $8,000 bail.

He told city police "he knows he messed up tonight and he made a bad decision," according to his arrest report.

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Michaud, who lives just outside the Palm Beach Gardens city limits, claimed he was fed up with a white Impala he alleged repeatedly "brake checked" him, a term used for quickly hitting the brakes when someone is riding too closely behind another vehicle.

However, 24-year-old Thomas Bernal, who was driving home after work that night, said Michaud was tailgating him in a dark-colored Ford Mustang as they headed east on Northlake Boulevard near Ibis Golf & Country Club, west of Florida's Turnpike.

"He couldn't have been but a couple inches off my bumper," the Palm Beach Gardens resident said during an interview Friday afternoon.

Bernal slowed to let the Mustang get around him and the car sped ahead of him and slammed on the brakes. Bernal said he had to swerve to avoid a wreck.

They stopped next to each other at the light at Northlake and the Beelline Highway. That's when Bernal said he saw the Mustang driver, whom he did not know, point a silver-colored gun at him. He called 911 shortly after 10 p.m. He said he was afraid for his life.

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When police stopped Michaud, officers saw him reach toward the passenger seat. He walked out of the car with a yellow envelope in his hand.

Michaud admitted he did not have a concealed-carry licenses, though officers found the gun under the passenger seat, and he claimed he only showed the Impala driver the revolver "because he did not know who he was dealing with." He claimed to have had a couple of drinks at a friend's home.

“I understand people have road rage, but that's no reason to pull out a gun on somebody,” Bernal said.

Michaud could not be reached for comment Friday.

ohitchcock@pbpost.com

@ohitchcock