A Memorial Day bike ride for veterans ended with two bikers being hospitalized in what Florida law enforcement officers are calling a road rage incident gone terribly wrong.
Joe Calderazzo, a Navy Veteran, says he and his group of bikers were attempting to criticize a man’s driving. And that’s when the unthinkable happened.
“We were on our way to dinner, and there was a driver on the road who was driving very erratically,” Calderazzo said.
And then, without warning, the car backs up and runs over the biker and his friend was sitting directly behind him.
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“I thought the guy was trying to kill us obviously,” Calderazzo said about the episode according to 10News. “You know you don’t know what’s going through your mind. Is he going to put the car in reverse? Is her going to turn around? Is he going to stop and pull out a gun? You don’t know what’s going on.”
“That’s when he decided to put the car in reverse, backed up about two feet, turned the wheel, and just ran us over.” he added.
The driver fled the scene. However, given the myriad eyewitnesses and video evidence, it didn’t take police long to apprehend him.
The driver was identified as 31-year-old Robert Paul Vance of Land O’ Lakes, Florida. Vance, who happens to be a habitual traffic offender, has been charged with hit-and-run and aggravated battery.
The two bikers hurt in the incident were hospitalized and treated for non-life-threatening injuries.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter: @jeromeehudson.