A Waterloo police officer charged in connection with what prosecutors called a road rage incident has been acquitted of misdemeanor assault.

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that a jury took less than four hours Friday to find 45-year-old Lt. Corbin Payne not guilty of roughing up a delivery driver last June while he was off-duty.

Authorities had said Payne accused the driver of dangerously weaving around a car driven by Payne's wife and in which Payne was riding. Authorities say Payne banged on the 22-year-old man's vehicle, yelled at him and pulled him out of the driver's seat by his throat.

At trial, Payne's attorney painted a picture of the younger man as a habitually aggressive driver who started the altercation by cursing at Payne.