A man who allegedly attacked a truck driver in a now-viral road rage video was identified as an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer, CHP confirms.
The incident occurred on Friday, July 14th after a white sedan pulled in front of a Cross Petroleum tanker truck and slammed on its brakes.
“When he pulled out from the stop sign to go up over the over pass a car sped around him, pulled in front of him and slammed their brakes on him,” said Jimm Cross, Vice President at Cross Petroleum
The two men in the sedan then exited their vehicle and climbed onto the cab of the truck, yelling at the driver.
“They were asking [the truck driver] to admit he did something wrong,” Cross said, “he didn’t even really know what they were talking about.”
One of the men reached inside the cab to grab the trucker. The man then “appeared to have been struck in the mouth and fell backward,” reported Jeremy Vipond, owner of the dash cam, to KRCR News.
“At that time he defended himself,” explained Cross.
The second man then jumped off of the cab to check on his friend, allowing for the tanker driver to leave the scene and reach a TA travel center, where he contacted local authorities.
Cross says that the two men were angry at his driver for “an unknown reason.”
“We are very supportive of our driver [and] the way he reacted in this situation protecting himself, getting the vehicle away to a safe public place,” added Cross.
Since the release of the video, the California Highway Patrol has identified the man who fell off the tractor trailer as Todd Garr, Northern Division Assistant Chief for the Highway Patrol.
Garr was off-duty at the time and is still employed with the CHP.
“I want to emphasize to the public that the alleged conduct of this employee does not reflect the values, hard work, dedication and professionalism of the CHP and its more than 11,000 employees,” said Jaime Coffee, a Public Information Officer with the California Highway Patrol.
It is not yet known whether drugs or alcohol were a factor.
The identity of the second man is still unclear, but the CHP confirmed that he is not an employee of the California Highway Patrol.
The video of the incident has since been removed from YouTube.