A Florida motorist has been arrested following a shocking road rage incident, caught on camera, which saw him deliberately swerve into a group of cyclists before allegedly firing a gunshot in their direction.
Footage of the confrontation, shared widely on social media, shows the cyclists riding two-abreast in Cutler Bay, Florida, around 20 miles south of Miami, on Saturday at around 7.30am, when motorist Raimiero Rios approaches from behind and begins driving alongside them in his SUV.
After passing a sign telling drivers to share the road with cyclists, Rios can be heard blaring his horn and shouting at the group, narrowly missing an oncoming motorist in the process, in the full video posted on Instagram page Only in Dade.
The SUV driver then deliberately veers into them, narrowly missing one rider, believed to be a 75-year-old, sending him off the road and forcing a second to come to an abrupt halt as he came into contact with the vehicle.
That cyclist then appears to react angrily to the dangerous manoeuvre, slapping the passenger-side window and kicking the car, while a member of the group can be heard saying: “I’m calling the cops, don’t leave.” Shortly afterwards, the sound of a gunshot can be heard, before the motorist drove off.
According to the local police, during the confrontation, Rios brandished a gun before firing one shot into the ground in the direction of the cyclists. Nobody was hurt.
Speaking to CBS News Miami, the two cyclists confirmed that they were not injured in the attack but did not want to speak on the record about the case as the investigation is ongoing.
On Monday night, Rios voluntarily handed himself in to the police. The 40-year-old was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, and discharging a firearm from a vehicle.
Rios then appeared in bond court, where Miami-Dade Circuit Court Judge Mindy Glazer found probable cause for the charges and set a bond of $15,000. The judge also ordered Rios, who was taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Centre, to have no contact with the victims, either directly or indirectly.
The horrifying incident comes just says after two members of a university cycling team were killed by a driver and seven others injured in a horror crash in Tennessee.
11 members of the Milligan University team were on a morning training ride in Hampton, Tennessee last Wednesday when they were struck by motorist John Benfield.
In a video message, the university’s president Stephen Waers confirmed that Haylan Engdahl and Brayden Rogers were killed in the collision. Seven other members of the team were treated in hospital for their injuries, with four currently in critical condition.
Benfield, a 69-year-old from North Carolina, was arrested and charged with two counts of vehicular homicide by recklessness and five counts of aggravated assault by vehicle. Local police say the investigation into the crash is ongoing.
As the news broke, Ama Nsek, a multiple collegiate national champion and former student at Milligan took to social media to voice his anger and sadness at another fatal collision involving a driver.
“Shed a good amount of tears this morning. Kids were killed and we’re just supposed to chalk it up to another distracted or angry driver?” he wrote.
In an emotional video message, Nsek asked: “When’s it going to end? Two cyclists killed. Two kids killed, and five in the hospital.
“It’s so sad that we live in a world where we can’t just ride our bikes in peace. I’ve seen so many cyclists get killed or heavily injured by negligent drivers, and it’s just really sad. It’s really frustrating.”
