Victim of alleged road rage dies

TAHOE CITY - A Truckee man who was stabbed here after a road rage incident died as a result of his injuries Wednesday night. Timothy George Brooks, 25, also of Truckee, is being charged with murder, according to Placer County authorities.

Robert Lawrence Ash was pronounced dead at 11:17 p.m. Wednesday by doctors at Washoe Medical Center in Reno.

Ash was allegedly stabbed in the abdomen by Brooks half an hour after Ash cut off Brooks in traffic on Highway 89 north of Squaw Valley Road.

"The driving incident enraged Brooks to the point that he searched for Ash for approximately one-half hour prior to finding him in Tahoe City," a sheriff's report stated. "Once Brooks found Ash, the two drivers became involved in a verbal argument. The verbal argument escalated to a physical fight between the two drivers. The altercation ended when Brooks stabbed Ash once in the abdomen."

Ash was taken to Tahoe Forest Hospital in Truckee by ambulance and received emergency surgery. He was later moved to Washoe Medical Center in Reno.

No drugs or alcohol were involved, Sgt. Dan Ingalls said.

The Washoe County Coroner's Office will conduct an autopsy to determine the exact cause of death.

Brooks was booked at Placer County Jail in Tahoe City and then transferred to Auburn, where he remains in custody without bail pending arraignment. Brooks has no prior known arrests, according to Ingalls.

Four murders have occurred on the North Shore in the last 18 years that have been handled by the Placer County Sheriff's Office Tahoe City sub-station, according to that office.

Wednesday's killing is the fifth. Ingalls said he has been with the Tahoe City sub-station for 11 years, and this is the first killing he's seen there.