In less than two weeks, law enforcement agencies from four different jurisdictions along the Front Range have identified a severe road rage case.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office released dash camera video of two drivers testing each other’s patience in traffic, hoping to identify the suspect who got out of his vehicle to confront another driver.
Loveland police shared surveillance video of a dispute between two drivers.
“It’s hard to watch”, said Jamie Jochum Mangeris, the victim’s mother. “Definitely he shouldn’t have gotten out of the car or pulled over for him.”
It ended when one of them gets out of their car and was run over by the other driver.
“He was under the suspect car and had been dragged”, she said.
Police in Boulder say on Sunday, Michael Guzak attacked a man with a baseball bat.
Michael Guzak
The arrest affidavit suggests Guzak cut the other driver off while exiting on to a roadway. He claims he had been tailgated.
All of it is being investigated as road rage and it is serious, but none like what happened in the parking lot of a Westminster dentist office last week.
A 13-year-old boy was shot and killed, his mother and brother also shot and critically injured… all stemming from a dispute on the road.
“The severity of it seems to be jumping up a little more”, said Colorado State Trooper Gary Cutler.
Cutler says the road can be a breeding ground for unnecessary altercations.
CBS4’s Karen Morfitt interviews Colorado State Trooper Gary Cutler
“With traffic being heavy and things like that you seem to have peoples tempers already running a little high”, he said, “They might flip somebody off, or they might break in front of them so that sets the other one off .”
If you find yourself in a road rage situation, Cutler says their best advice is to separate
“Slow down let them get further ahead, if they’re going to match your speed, try to pull of the interstate or highway or the roadway wherever you are”, Cutler said.
If it continues or things escalate, he says, do not get out of your car and do not hesitate to call for help.
“A lot of times the dispatchers can start giving you advice let you know where there might be a patrol station or we may have a trooper or law enforcement officer nearby and they can start directing you toward that.” he said.
