HAMMOND -- A history professor at Southeastern Louisiana University has surrendered to Baton Rouge authorities after a television station reported he was wanted for cutting a man following a road-rage incident last year.

Samuel C. Hyde Jr., 49, of Denham Springs, was booked Wednesday into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison on charges of aggravated second-degree battery and second-degree battery, said Sgt. Don Kelly, a spokesman for the Baton Rouge Police Department. Bond information was not immediately available.

Southeastern placed Hyde on administrative leave following the arrest. A member of the university's faculty since 1992, Hyde is also the director of its Center for Southeast Louisiana Studies.

"This is a very unfortunate incident, one that we consider very serious," said Randy Moffett, Southeastern's president. "The university cannot tolerate incidents of this nature and seriousness, and while we are not prejudging the situation, we believe it is in the best interest of both Southeastern and Dr. Hyde that he be separated from the university until this runs its legal course."

Hyde told The (Hammond) Daily Star, in an interview, that the only thing he's guilty of in the Aug. 8 incident was a moment of bad judgment.

"I should have been a bigger person, but I got my back up," Hyde said.

According to Hyde, he was at a stop sign in a subdivision of East Baton Rouge Parish and reached over to get something on the other side of his car. When he didn't continue through the intersection, he said a driver behind him pulled alongside him and gave him an offensive gesture. Hyde said the other driver then followed him and bumped his vehicle.

"We pulled over, got out and confronted each other. He cut me, and I was standing there pouring blood, and he drove off," said Hyde, who added that his 9-year-old son was in the car and saw the incident.

"I was the one who got 23 stitches in my arm. It was the complete opposite of what the TV station said happened."

Hyde said he went to a Baton Rouge hospital and filed a report with the parish sheriff's office. When the investigating deputy asked where the incident occurred, he told Hyde the area was in the city police department's jurisdiction.

But, because of the late hour, Hyde said he went home instead of filing the report. After discussing the situation with family, Hyde said he decided not to press charges.

"I have regretted every minute that I pulled over and got out of the car and confronted him," Hyde said. "That's why I didn't pursue it."

Hyde said the Crimestoppers wanted alert was unnecessary because if police had wanted to find him, they could easily have found him at work.

Hyde's attorney, John Bel Edwards of Hammond, said it was outrageous that Crimestoppers would air the story.

"You have a distinguished professor of history at Southeastern, and they are acting like they don't know where he is?" Edwards said. "They need information from the public to find him? This goes to the sensational rather than common sense. He has been living at the same residential address in Denham Springs for years. The idea that he could be Baton Rouge's Most Wanted is ridiculous."

Edwards said it appears that the other party filed a complaint with police, and the two law enforcement agencies never compared notes.

"East Baton Rouge Sheriff's Office regards Dr. Hyde as the victim in this case," Edwards said.

(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)