HARTFORD — Compelling video has surfaced showing two men in downtown Hartford engaged in a violent road rage incident.
FOX61 talked exclusively with Obasi Cooper who kept his camera rolling and caught the incident as it escalated into a violent road rage confrontation.
“My boy Phil was like 'hey, there’s two dudes arguing.'"Okay, so like my dad would do, he would pull out his phone and film it,” said Cooper.
Cooper was skateboarding with some friends when he came across two men arguing at the intersection of Main Street and Central Row Friday afternoon.
“The red car driver was like, 'hey you hit my car, did you hit my car?'.”
His video captures one man punching the other driver's window.
The man shouts some expletives and starts to walk away. That’s when the driver of the gray car backs up — and then accelerates forward — hitting the other man and his red sedan.
You can read full police report on the incident here.
Cooper can be heard on the video saying, “Bro, he just hit em with his car. Yo, that’s crazy!”
The man flipped into the air and slammed to the pavement, but bounced right back up. Then, both men got out of the vehicle and put up their fists.
“Let’s go!” one of them shouted.
The video stops as police monitoring a construction zone down the street run to assist.
“I stopped the video and then the police officer came. I showed them the video then it all broke up. I think another police officer arrived after that but then I just put my phone back in my pocket and walked away,” said Cooper.
The video went viral on Facebook, shared more than 3,000 times.
“My boys were like 'hey your video is getting shared all around' and I was like 'wow, that’s pretty cool'.”
He said it won’t be the last time he reaches for his cell phone.
“Yeah, I’ll be like yeah let’s pull it out. I might get some more stuff.”
Police have identified the two men involved. The driver of the gray Dodge Journey was identified as Jerome Anderson of Manchester. The driver of the red Toyota Camry has been identified as Ruiz Santiago of East Hartford.
Police said Santiago was the only one taken to the hospital after he was struck by Anderson. No word on the extent of his injuries.