Two Chicago real estate agents say they were leaving a property listing when they witnessed — and recorded — a road rage confrontation that escalated from a minor crash into a chaotic fight involving an ax.
Tom Cunningham and Ewelina Siuta told CBS News Chicago that they saw a pickup truck and a white car collide before the situation rapidly spiraled into a physical altercation on Monday, Dec. 15. “This is insane. I thought it was a Laurel and Hardy movie, honestly. Unfortunately, it was real,” Cunningham told the station.
Cunningham was driving as the pair left the listing, and Siuta pulled out her phone to record what was happening. She told CBS News Chicago that the pickup truck appeared to be tailgating the white car, and the pickup’s driver then got out, “pretend[ed] he has a gun,” and began yelling at the other man.
Siuta said the white car then reversed into the pickup truck, prompting the pickup’s driver to confront the other driver. In the video shared with CBS News Chicago, an unidentified man is seen striking the driver’s side window of the white vehicle. Traffic behind them — including a school bus — came to a halt despite there being nothing directly blocking the road.
Cunningham can be heard off-camera in the clip describing the unfolding scene to police, saying: “There’s an accident here. The guy’s out of his car, one’s in his car. There’s a huge fight going on.”
Moments later in the video, the pickup’s driver approaches the white car again holding an object that the witnesses said they soon realized was an ax.
“Oh, he just hit his car!” Cunningham yells after the white car speeds off — only to rear-end the pickup truck. The white car’s airbags deploy, and its driver exits. With the other man still standing in the street holding the ax, the driver of the white car climbs into the pickup truck.
The pickup’s driver then rushes back to the vehicle, reaching in through the window and grappling with the other man as they fight inside the driver’s seat. The driver of the white car ultimately speeds away in the pickup truck, Siuta said.
“He took off, crashed it, and then got back out and continued fighting the guy,” she told CBS News Chicago.
Siuta added that Cunningham considered stepping out to intervene, but she urged him not to. “I’m like, ‘Yeah, Tom, not a good idea. Just stay in the car,’ ” she recalled.
Police responded to a report of criminal damage to a vehicle and aggravated battery, according to CBS News Chicago, but the station said it was not clear whether any arrests had been made.
