Faizel Patel, Radio Islam News, 2014-07-29

A man filmed kicking a car and assaulting a driver in a road rage incident in Fourways has been arrested.

The man, in the company of his lawyer, handed himself over to police at the Douglasdale police station on Tuesday afternoon and was taken into custody.

Police spokesman Warrant Officer Balan Muthan confirmed the arrest and said the suspect – who cannot yet be named – would be charged with common assault and malicious damage to property amounting to less than R2,000.

The incident happened on Witkoppen Road around 3pm on Sunday afternoon was recorded by an eyewitness and uploaded onto YouTube by anti-crime initiative e-Blockwatch where it drew a lot of attention.

The video shows a passenger getting out of a Porsche and kicking at the VW Jetta on the driver’s side.

 When the Jetta driver rolls down the window, the other man starts to punch him. A struggle ensues and the man grabs what appear to be the Jetta’s keys and throws them away.

In an interview with broadcaster eNCA, the driver of the Jetta — who asked to remain anonymous for fear of victimisation — said he was punched in the face. He said he opened a case of assault.

 “I was driving behind him and he was cutting off people left, right and centre. So I went closer to see what kind of a Porsche it was and the passenger threw a can out the window at me,” the man was quoted as saying.

“Then he threw another can, and it hit my car. So I hooted, flipped him the finger and asked what the hell he thought he was doing.

“He damaged my tracking device and stuffed up my side mirror. It all happened so fast I didn’t even have a chance to think,” the man said.

The video had drawn almost 112 500 views. E-Blockwatch founder Andre Snyman said the organization was pleased to have been involved in drawing attention to the road rage incident and assisting police in apprehending the suspect.

(Twitter: @Faizie143)