A North Vancouver tow truck driver who was beaten with an aluminum baseball bat in a case of apparent road rage has filed a civil law suit in B.C. Supreme Court against the men who have been charged in the attack.
Ryan McCaffery, who was violently beaten on the side of Highway 1 on Jan. 1, is suing Gerrardo Arguello of Vancouver and Norman Segundo of California for damages.
McCaffery said following a verbal altercation, he was deliberately forced off the road by Arguello, the driver of the other vehicle, part way up The Cut. When he got out to check for damage, Segundo - a passenger in the other car - ran over and began to punch and kick him in the midsection and legs, McCaffery said in his claim. As the two men tussled, Arguello appeared with the aluminum baseball bat and swung it directly at McCaffery's head.
McCaffery said Arguello struck him more than 10 times with the bat before being stopped by a passerby who intervened in the attack.
According to McCaffery, trouble started on the McGill Street on-ramp to the Ironworkers Memorial Second Narrows Crossing, where Arguello apparently felt McCaffery had cut him off. While McCaffery was driving over the bridge, the other vehicle pulled alongside him where the passenger continued to yell obscenities, he said. Feeling increasingly alarmed, McCaffery said he drove away from Arguello to distance himself.
But when he was part way up the steep hill in North Vancouver, McCaffery said he saw Arguello's vehicle suddenly cut across three lanes of traffic, swerve in front of him and brake hard, causing McCaffery to crash into it.
When he got out to inspect the damage, the two men attacked him, McCaffery said.
North Vancouver RCMP arrested both Arguello and Segundo at the scene.
McCaffery was taken to hospital where he needed seven staples to close a cut in his head.
McCaffery said in the claim he suffered injuries to his neck, face, back and torso as well as anxiety and depression.
McCaffery is also suing for lost wages and the cost of his medical care, paid by the B.C. government.
Neither of the two men has filed a statement of defence yet.
Arguello and Segundo are due to stand trial in North Vancouver provincial court Jan. 11, 2012 on assault charges. Their lawyer, Dil Gosal, has previously said his clients' position is that McCaffery was the aggressor in the case.
