ABCNews.com(CHICAGO) — Police have opened an investigation into a disturbing act of road rage last week after cellphone video showed three women attacking each other with a bat on a busy Chicago highway.
Illinois State Police said the incident unfolded during rush hour on Interstate 57 on Chicago’s south side early Thursday morning after a woman cut in front of a gray Hyundai while swinging a baseball bat out of the window.
Once in front of the car, she jumps out and smashes the bat onto the hood of the Hyundai. That’s when a passenger in that car gets out and confronts the bat-wielding woman.
Cellphone video taken from a vehicle behind the two cars showed the two women throwing punches and pulling each other’s hair. The situation escalated even further when driver of the Hyundai exits the vehicle and tries to wrestle the bat away in an apparent effort to protect her passenger.
She eventually gains control of the bat and gets ready to swing. The video ends there. One witness said the two women in the Hyundai appeared to be mother and daughter.
“I’ve never seen nothing like that before. … It looked like they were doing a lot of slapping at first and grabbing, but then they started to do a lot of punching,” the witness told ABC Chicago station WLS. “It looks like the older lady was trying to grab the young lady by her hair to get her off her daughter.”
Officers with the Illinois State Police said they’re examining the video for clues. The clip gives investigators a clear view of license plates of the drivers involved, but no arrests had been made as of Sunday evening.
“The ISP responded to the above location and did not locate any involved parties or witnesses on scene,” police said in a statement Friday. “An investigation into this incident is currently open and ongoing; the investigation is currently in its preliminary stages. The Illinois State Police takes all cases of physical violence on our expressways seriously.”
Anyone who witnessed the altercation has been asked to contact police immediately.
Road rage is quite common among U.S. drivers, with some 80% of American drivers expressing anger and aggression while behind the wheel at least once a year, according to AAA.
Motorists captured a similarly bizarre scene on the Massachusetts Turnpike earlier this year — a man was seen clinging to the hood of a moving vehicle for nearly 3 miles.
Police said the two got into a minor accident that led to an argument that escalated when one man went to leave and the other stepped in his way.
A third man was seen pointing a gun at the driver to get him out of the driver’s seat just as officers arrived. Both men in that incident were charged and pleaded not guilty, authorities said.
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