North Vancouver RCMP say one man is facing charges after an alleged road rage incident on Main Street Tuesday.
The fracas was caught on a dashboard camera and posted on Youtube by a commuter headed east around 6:30 p.m.
The driver of a black Mitsubishi stopped next to a silver Dodge at the intersection of Main and Mountain Highway and the drivers spilled out into the street.
“There’s a bit of movement between the two occupants. The (Mitsubishi) driver grabbed the (Dodge) rear windshield wiper blade, and in grabbing it, also broke the window,” said Cpl Richard De Jong, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman. “Little did he know – or maybe he did know – there was a four-year-old in the back seat as well. Of course, there was glass everywhere.”
In the dash-cam video, the child’s mother is seen getting out of the car and throwing something at the alleged attacker, then the male passenger and the accused attacker continue their fight.
“There’s a bunch of dancing back and forth and a few sucker punches,” De Jong said.
The light then turns green and the driver of the vehicle with the dash cam heads east. The fight was broken up by a peacemaker brandishing a piece of pipe, who told the two to knock it off.
With the help of the camera footage, it was easy to track down the driver, a 40-year-old Vancouver man, for questioning. Police are recommending one charge of assault and one charge of mischief to property.
The family in the damaged Dodge are doing fine now, De Jong said.
Police can’t say what triggered the melee.
“As it turned out, it stemmed from a road rage incident several blocks back. We’re not sure exactly what happened,” said De Jong.
Road range incidents are not common, but they do tend to draw a lot of attention, De Jong said.
“It probably wasn’t what they intended to happen but these things escalate very quickly and they become very dangerous,” he said.
Dash cams can be very helpful, although De Jong said police likely would have tracked down the suspect in this case without the video as there were a number of witnesses to the incident.
If you find yourself the subject of road rage, De Jong does have some common-sense advice.
“Don’t engage. Don’t have eye contact. Keep your distance. Pull over and let the other driver get ahead. Never ever let them follow you home. Pull into a public place like a gas station and call police. Better to keep your distance and a cool head. It’s much easier,” he said.
