A New Jersey man has been charged with attempted murder after he allegedly ran down a woman in a road rage incident that was caught on video.
The footage filmed by a neighbor's surveillance camera shows a car on a residential street in Elizabeth on Tuesday backing up and then chasing the woman onto a front lawn, where she slips and falls in front of the oncoming vehicle.
Neighbors tell News 4 New York that the man was backing up on Salem Avenue, a one-way street, to avoid traffic at a light during the Tuesday morning rush hour and crashed into a woman's car in the intersection. Apparently, this upset the man so much, he began following her in his car.
Police and prosecutors allege 56-year-old Vincent Jean of Elizabeth was involved in a minor traffic accident with the woman and began pursuing her after she began taking pictures of his car as he tried to flee. Jean allegedly drove over the victim, then backed up and drove over her again, according to the prosecutor’s office.
Home surveillance video showed the moment Jean chased the woman and plowed into her.
"He ran over her. Ran over her again, three times," Isaac, a witness who did not want to provide his last name, told News 4 New York. It was his home camera that caught the harrowing incident around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. "How could you do a thing like this? It was a fender bender, that's all."
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Seconds after the first hit, a school bus showed up and blocked the driver, according to the witness. It was at this point that the driver turned around and allegedly plowed into the victim again. Prosecutors said that Jean then sped away as he left the woman injured on the floor.
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Neighbors called 911 as Isaac and his wife ran over to help the woman.
"As my wife put a blanket on her to keep her warm -- it was raining and the grass was wet -- she told my wife, 'thank you,'" Isaac said.
The Union County prosecutor’s office charged Jean with attempted murder, aggravated assault and other offenses.
A few hours later, police said they found Jean sitting in his damaged SUV a few miles from the scene.
The 23-year-old woman was taken to the hospital in critical condition.
Jean made an initial court appearance and was being held in the county jail pending a pretrial detention hearing next Tuesday. He didn’t have an attorney listed, according to the prosecutor’s office.
