Surrey police confirm they are investigating a potential road rage incident, which was partly caught on dashcam.
Surrey police said they received a call around 3:15 p.m. on Aug. 12 to 104th Avenue and Highway 17 about an incident in which someone had been sprayed with bear or pepper spray.
In the video, a grey truck can be seen passing the vehicle with the dashcam, pulling into the lane in front of the vehicle and coming to an abrupt stop.
Then, a red truck pulls up beside the grey one. The driver of the red truck gets out, steps up onto the grey truck and sprays a substance into the open back sliding window.
That driver gets back into the red truck and speeds away, appearing to run a red light.
The driver of the grey truck gets out and can be seen trying to clear the substance from his face and eyes.
Sonny Bihari was the victim in the grey truck.
“I was just passing underneath the Port Mann Bridge,” he told Global News.
“Gentleman was in a fast lane, driving very slow, and we were all passing him, so I was the last person who passed him, and I guess he didn’t like the idea. Then he pinned it, then he decided to chase me all the way up to 104th, where we both pulled over, and he decided he would get out of his vehicle and pepper spray me.”
He did admit that he and the other driver gave each other the middle finger a few times and the suspect driver started flashing his high beams and trying to cut off other traffic to catch up to him.
Bihari said when the suspect pulled up beside him, the man was trying to catch his eye but he tried not to engage.
“He quickly got into his vehicle and jumped on my truck and he pepper-sprayed me right from my rear window,” he said.
“When it hit my eye, I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t wish this upon anybody’,” he added. “It was like the worst thing ever, just a nightmare, being pepper-sprayed in your eyes and all over your body.”
Bihari said he was able to put his truck in park and get out.
“The gentleman behind me, well, it seems like nobody else wanted to help, but the gentleman behind me jumped out, put some water on my face,” he added.
That person also stayed with Bihari, waited for the police and handed over the dashcam footage.
Ian MacDonald, media liaison for the Surrey Police Service, told Global News an RCMP officer responded to the incident.
“First and foremost, I want to commend the other drivers who assisted this driver who was in some distress,” he said.
“Obviously, he was disoriented as a result of that incapacitating spray. But more importantly, recognizing the time of day, the amount of traffic, this was extremely dangerous incident, not just for the victim driver, but potentially for all drivers on that roadway, which is very busy at three o’clock in the afternoon.”
MacDonald confirmed they have not identified the suspect driver but they want him to come to the police station and provide his side of the story before he is identified.
“I think when people take a look at the video, they are going to find it disturbing, dangerous and they’re going to find it unacceptable, which is how we feel about it,” MacDonald said.
“Driving is a complex task already. We don’t need to add weapons and stupidity to the mix.”
MacDonald said they would also like other drivers to come forward and explain what they saw.
“On the surface of it and based on what people will see in the video, it appears to be an assault with a weapon,” he added. “Until we find out the rest of the details, that’s obviously what we’re investigating.”
Bihari said he has not been able to work since the incident, which was shocking and painful.
“I’m so traumatized, like, who does this? I thought this stuff … happens in movies only.”