A 66-year-old Huntingtown man has been charged with assault and reckless endangerment after allegedly firing a shotgun at a couple participating in a charity bicycle rally in Calvert County on Saturday.
According to court documents filed by Detective William Freeland of the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, David Earl Bustin is alleged to have fired the weapon on Hardesty Road in Huntingtown around 10 a.m. April 27. No one was injured.
On Monday, Bustin posted $1,000 bail and was released following a hearing presided over by district court Judge Michelle Saunders.
In the charging papers, Freeland stated a 51-year-old man and his 47-year-old wife “were riding their bicycles in a charity race on Hardesty Road when a blue pickup truck traveling behind” the man and “engaged him in ‘road rage.’”
The husband stated the driver of the truck “swerved around him then attempted to cut him off so he would drive off of the road.”
After pulling into a driveway, the driver of the truck exited the vehicle and “retrieved a shotgun,” Freeland stated, firing the shotgun toward the man on the bicycle.
Freeland said the woman “provided the same witness account. Neither individual was hit by the gunfire. [The husband] called 911 and deputies from the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office responded.”
Freeland said he was able to contact Bustin, who had left the scene after the alleged incident. The defendant agreed to speak with the detective.
During a recorded interview with Freeland, Bustin stated he passed the bicyclists, pulled into his driveway and retrieved his gun from his truck.
He told the detective he “took his shotgun to the wood line and fired three shells parallel to the bicyclists traveling on Hardesty Road towards his home. He stated that the bicyclists were approximately 20 yards away when he fired his shotgun. Bustin told me he was unloading his shotgun.”
The defendant told Freeland he “policed the scene,” picking up the shell casings and putting them in his other vehicle, then placing the shotgun in his home’s basement.
A search and seizure warrant authorized by circuit court Judge Mark Carmean was executed at Bustin’s residence that afternoon with the shotgun and shell casings being confiscated.
A district court hearing regarding the charges Bustin is facing has not been scheduled at this time.
According to court records, Bustin is being represented by attorney Mark Palumbo.
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