Police say what started with two men arguing over a fender bender ended with one man dead and the other under arrest. Melissa Colorado reports.
A deadly road rage incident that was sparked by what appeared to be a simple fender bender in Manhattan has left the victim's family shocked, as they say they don't even recognize the man being described in the police report of the incident.
Roberto Velez was involved in a minor accident on East 60th Street between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue on the Upper East Side Wednesday evening, according to police, when his Chevy Silverado and a Volkswagen Jetta sedan with Virginia plates bumped into each other.
Things between Velez and the other driver, 26-year-old Andre Mosby, escalated in a hurry. Soon after the pair got into a heated argument, Alvarez got out of his pickup truck and pulled out a knife. That's when the 54-year-old used the knife to slash two of the tires on the Jetta, police said.
Mosby allegedly responded by stepping on the accelerator and running over Velez, pinning him up against the wall of a building. Video from the scene shows the frantic moments as first responders carried Velez to an ambulance. He was rushed to a hospital but did not survive his injuries.
Cell phone video taken after the crash shows Velez on the ground and a knife with a red handle next to him.
Broken glass was seen scattered all around the smashed sedan in the aftermath of the incident. Mosby, who officers said was traveling with his wife and two children in the car, stayed at the scene and was taken into custody by police. He was charged with manslaughter and assault.
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Velez's wife told NBC New York that he was a construction supervisor and was not a violent person at all. The emotional spouse said he was in the neighborhood to pick her up from work.
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"The person that they are describing is not my husband," Alex Garcia, wife to Velez, said Thursday. "My husband was the kindest man in the world."
His son said that he likely had some sort of pocket knife or Swiss Army knife for his job, and that his father often liked to cut up and eat fresh fruit.
Velez's wife and son both said he never had any kind of anger issues or showed any road rage.
"He's never acted that way," Steven Velez, his son, said.
Velez was originally from Colombia and family members from around the world are coming in for his final goodbye, his wife told News 4. His family says they are focusing on funeral arrangements and will let the legal play out its course.
