A Morongo Valley man was arrested Monday evening after he hit another man because he wouldn’t give him a cigarette. According to a Sheriff’s report, Joseph Rodriguez, 36, went to a home in the 9300 block of Navajo Trail in Morongo Valley about 6:30 and asked the occupant for a cigarette. When the resident refused, Rodriguez became agitated and began to yell at him. The argument escalated into pushing each other, and then the report states, Rodriguez grabbed a mailbox and tried to hit the man. After bystanders took the mailbox away, the report states Rodriguez grabbed a rock and hit the man in the face with it. Joseph Rodriguez was booked for assault with a weapon, booked at the Morongo Basin Jail, with his bail set at $50,000.
