An Edmonton man says he was threatened with a baton and struck by a car in an alleged road rage incident on the side of a busy highway over the weekend.
Brad Cummins said the encounter unfolded on Edmonton’s Anthony Henday Drive, after he apparently angered another driver by passing him. Cummins says the driver started tailgating him and flagged him over to the side of the road, where the two got out of their vehicles for a face-to-face confrontation.
“I got out of my car to talk to him and he pulls out this weapon, a baton,” Cummins told CTV Edmonton on Sunday. Cummins said the driver threatened to bash his head in with the weapon.
“I go to get back in my car and he runs me over,” Cummins said. “He hit my door, and my door flew back and hit my head.”
The driver’s side door on Cummins’ vehicle shows obvious damage, while Cummins himself was wearing a bandage around his head when he spoke to CTV Edmonton.
Cummins said the other driver sped off after striking his car. However, it didn’t get far.
The other vehicle was found approximately two kilometres away with a flat tire and damage to the right front corner of the vehicle. Police arrested the driver but failed to recover any kind of baton, despite conducting a search of the nearby ditch.
The encounter is just the latest in a string of high-profile road rage incidents in Canada this summer. Video surfaced online last week of a motorist allegedly beating a cyclist with a club in Peterborough, Ont. Two vehicles were also involved in a T-bone collision in Toronto last week, in the conclusion of a road rage incident partially captured on camera.
A Calgary man was seriously injured in another incident earlier this month, when he was stabbed in the chest outside an autoparts dealer.
Edmonton Police Const. Nikolas Pavlov says it’s best to avoid engaging with angry motorists on the road. He also stressed that in-person confrontations are a bad idea.
“If you get out of your vehicle and start causing problems on the side of the road it can put you at risk,” he said.
“It’s absolutely nuts, man,” Cummins said. “People need to calm down.”
With files from CTV Edmonton
