A driver allegedly grabbed a small dog from the vehicle next to his and threw it in an act of road rage, according to a video captured by the passengers inside the vehicle behind the two cars.
The video shows a red Honda next to a white Toyota in Montclair, New Jersey, as the two drivers are involved in an altercation, WKXW-FM reported.
The older man recoils and falls after attempting to punch the long-haired, younger man. The older man goes after the other man again, this time grabbing and pushing him.
“What’s your f***ing problem?” he yells.
The older man goes over to the driver’s side door of the white Toyota when the long-haired man opens the Toyota’s passenger door and throws the dog onto the sidewalk.
Moments later, the dog runs toward the Toyota near the Honda right as the long-haired man gets into his vehicle and drives away.
The passengers recording the incident began to scream in fear that the car ran the dog over.
“The dog’s going to die!” one voice yells. “Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Why’d he do that to his dog?”
The video’s quality and the way it was shot make it hard to see the dog’s fate, but the animal did survive, investigators say.
Investigators told NJ.com that the dog did not suffer serious injuries as a result of Wednesday’s incident and said they identified both men in the video.
Montclair Police Sgt. Michael Mongiovi said that police are investigating the incident Sunday but did not say whether charges have been filed against both men.
The Montclair Animal Cruelty Investigator, as well as the SPCA, is also investigating the incident.
The Honda that belonged to the man who threw the dog appeared to have a Lyft sticker, although Lyft’s spokesperson said the driver was not in the middle of a trip at the time.
“We are shocked and horrified by what we saw in this video,” Lyft spokesperson Alexandra LaManna wrote in an email to WKXW. “While this did not happen on the Lyft platform, we permanently deactivated the individual after learning of his truly cruel behavior; he will never again be able to use Lyft.”
Other incidents of road rage made headlines this year.
A Texas driver allegedly opened fire at a vehicle in June after the driver flipped him off, and a Florida driver allegedly smashed the window of a pickup truck and pepper sprayed the truck’s driver in February.
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