Air Force Master Sgt. Charles Bass III, as seen in his police mugshot following his Dec. 12 arrest in Surprise, Ariz. Police say he pulled a gun on a 19-year-old driver in a road rage episode near Luke Air Force Base, where he works. (Surprise Police Department)
A 40-year-old Air Force master sergeant in Arizona is accused of pointing a gun at a teenage driver in suburban Phoenix during a recent road rage episode, and video footage from the driver’s cellphone shows him asking if she wanted to die, authorities said.
Master Sgt. Charles Bass III was arrested Dec. 12 on suspicion of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, disorderly conduct with a weapon and endangerment, the Surprise Police Department said in a Dec. 19 statement.
The department did not immediately respond to questions about whether Bass has been arraigned and is still in custody.
A spokeswoman with the 56th Fighter Wing at Luke Air Force Base said Bass is on active duty and assigned to the base, but she declined further comment, citing an ongoing police investigation.
Bass’ work email identifies him as a member of the 56th Component Maintenance Squadron at the base.
The confrontation happened the morning of Dec. 5, as 19-year old Shi ‘Anna Bamba was driving home alone after dropping off her siblings at school.
“It was just a normal day before this happened,” Bamba told Stars and Stripes on Friday.
Bamba tried to change lanes in front of Bass but didn’t even get to merge before Bass started driving aggressively, according to the police statement.
“I did not get into the lane in front of him at any point. In the video, you can see me pull up from behind him,” Bamba said Friday.
Bass extended his middle finger while driving, the police statement said. Bamba then began to record the developing situation.
When both vehicles were stopped at a traffic light a few miles from the base, Bass brandished a gun, according to the police statement.
In video broadcast by local ABC affiliate KNXV Channel 15, a man police identified as Bass can be seen behind the wheel of a Ford F250 pickup truck, rolling down his passenger window and pointing the gun at the camera.
A still image from cell phone video footage captures the moment Air Force Master Sgt. Charles Bass III points a firearm from his vehicle during a Dec. 5, 2023, road rage incident in Surprise, Arizona, a confrontation that led to his arrest, Dec. 19. (Surprise Police Department)
Master Sgt. Charles Bass, then assigned as first sergeant with the 8th Civil Engineer Squadron, speaks with augmentees before they start work at Kunsan Air Base, South Korea, Sept. 12, 2022. (Shannon Braaten/U.S. Air Force)
“You want to die?” the man says in the footage.
Bamba pulled away and immediately called her mother. She then contacted police and shared the video with officers.
Based on the clip, police investigators collected more video evidence from several sources and identified Bass as the suspect, police reported in the statement.
Bass told police he thought the other driver was driving erratically and “because of his PTSD and hypervigilance issues” he didn’t know what the other driver was going to do, KNXV reported.
But Bass could not tell officers why he kept pointing the gun at Bamba after realizing that she was not a threat, the TV station reported.
A LinkedIn page that appears to belong to Bass says he has more than 21 years of experience in the Air Force as a first sergeant and aircraft maintenance manager and lists him as available for work, indicating that he is nearing retirement from active duty.
