Detectives seek break in Bluffton road-rage assault case

BLUFFTON -- Although police have a suspect in mind, they continue to hunt for the man who punched an elderly driver last week.

Detectives are checking a local man's alibi and have scheduled a polygraph test for next week.

"We'll see if he shows," said Lt. Katherine Sours.

So far, tipsters have led investigators to about 20 different green vans, the type of vehicle the attacker was driving, said Sours.

More leads continue to trickle in.

"It's amazing how many green vans there are," she said.

Bonnie Burke, a saleswoman who witnessed the attack, said she's been interviewed by detectives on several occasions.

"We've been looking at pictures," she said.

Burke would not say whether police have their sights on the right man.

"I can't divulge that," she said.

On Sept. 19, the 79-year-old Sun City Hilton Head man was punched in the face and pushed to the ground in the parking lot of a Sheridan Park business. The attacker apparently became enraged by the senior citizen's slow driving on U.S. 278 and followed him into the parking lot.

The suspect is a white man in his 30s or 40s, described as being around 6 feet 2 inches tall and about 200 pounds with receding sandy-blond hair. Witnesses say he was driving an older-model green work van without rear passenger's windows. The paint job appeared to be done with spray paint.