Austin man says road rage incident quickly escalated
SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Caught on camera: an Austin man says he captured a fight between two drivers during a road rage incident in South Austin. It also led to a crash.
If you look closely, a driver can be seen hanging out the window, throwing something at another vehicle and then crashing. Manuel Rocha says it was a road rage incident that quickly escalated.
"These guys are willing to go all crazy on the road, who knows when it's one-on-one as individuals, what they're going to do then. I had my little brother with me so I wasn't going to take any chances and you know, interfere with something," says Manuel Rocha, witness.
That incident happened earlier this month in South Austin. Rocha says it first started at William Cannon and Pleasant Valley. A truck and a car were stopped at the intersection, that's when Rocha began recording.
"The Cadillac threw, I believe, a water bottle at first at the truck and that's when two guys hopped out from the front seats. The guy in the Cadillac had his window down because they were yelling and they just started on this guy. You could tell he was taking a beating," says Rocha.
They reportedly jumped back in their vehicles and continued down William Cannon toward I35, which is where Rocha was headed. He pulled out his phone again, catching the driver hanging out the window - ending in a crash. Rocha tries to help the driver of the vehicle that was hit.
"He's finally about to tell me his number but as soon as he's telling me his number, the guy in the Cadillac like yanks it in reverse. He goes back, and you can hear him yelling. It's him and another young girl and you hear them yelling, 'Oh, get that guy. Get that guy.' I guess the driver believed him so he just jumps in the car and goes off," says Rocha.
He goes off and loses sight of the suspect car. Rocha follows him to see if he can catch up.
"You can hear in the video my brother saying, 'I feel like someone is about to get shot.' It's like all these things are happening, especially with everything going on around, it's like I wouldn't be surprised if a gun was pulled out," says Rocha.
Although the incident lasted for a couple minutes and was witnessed by many, the Austin Police Department says they don't have any report of the incident. In the future, they hope people will give them a call.
"I guess in that situation you don't see it coming, it just happens. It all happens so fast that you're like, 'Wait, did anyone call the cops?'" says Rocha