The driver of the vehicle that was at the centre of the road rage incident in Brampton last week is speaking out about the “scary” ordeal he, his wife, and her friend went though.
Gaurav Chhabra said that they were travelling along Torbram when another driver started following him and began shouting at him while driving.
He said that the motorist made two attempts to stop him, succeeding on the second try.
At that point, four males jumped out of the vehicle and made their way over to his car.
Chabbra, who filmed the incident on both his cell phone and dashcam, said that one of the suspects proceeded to kick his front bumper and headlights, while another said “demeaning words” in the Punjabi language towards them and tried opening his locked car door on two occasions.
That individual, he said, then punched the driver’s side window “aggressively” before using his kara, a metal bracelet worn by Sikhs, to break the vehicle’s windshield before they all fled the scene in their vehicle.
The victim is maintaining that he did nothing to provoke the incident, adding that the suspects were driving in an unsafe way that endangered everyone on the road.
“They have to be caught as soon as possible,” Chabbra said, noting that this incident has greatly upset all of them them, especially his wife, who is expecting their first child.
A suspect is seen smashing the window of a vehicle in a video of a Brampton rod rage incident.
Peel Regional Police (PRP) issued a news release on Friday about the incident, which happened on Wednesday at about 7:20 p.m. near Torbram Road and Eagleridge Drive, just south of Sandlewood Parkway East.
According to police, an interaction occurred between a driver and the occupants of a gold-coloured Hyundai Sonata with the Ontario license plate CXHK981.
They said that the victim was confronted by four individuals, threatened, and that their vehicle was damaged.
Footage circulating on social media of the incident shows four males exiting a vehicle, one of whom is seen hitting and damaging the windshield of the victim’s vehicle, while another kicks the bumper and headlights. They suspects return to their vehicle and drive off.
Situation “escalated quite rapidly,” say police
Speaking with CP24’s Lindsay Biscaia on Friday evening, media officer Const. Tyler Bell-Morena said that an interaction occurred between the occupants of the two vehicles and at some point the person operating the gold-coloured vehicle pulled in front of the other one and the situation “escalated quite rapidly to a point where some significant damage was done to the windshield of that vehicle.”
Bell-Morena said that incident was caught on both dashcam as well as cell phone footage allowing police to get clear images of both the suspects, especially the male who damaged the vehicle’s windshield, as well as the license plate of their vehicle.
Calling the incident an “eye-opening interaction,” he said that what is seen in the footage is a “marked departure from regular frustration” behind the wheel that any motorist in the GTA should experience.
“When folks are getting out of their vehicles and they’re coming up to confront you, it’s not for a good reason and so that’s obviously very concerning for the police and it’s completely unacceptable behaviour,” said Bell-Morena, who urged anyone who encounters a road rage situation to not engage with aggressive motorists, get out of harm’s way, and call the police right away.
Four suspects remain outstanding
So far, police have identified two of the suspects as 28-year-old Akashdeep Singh and 23-year-old Ramanpreet Massih.
The third suspect is only described as a South Asian male and six feet tall. He was last seen wearing a gray baseball cap, a black graffiti hoodie with “Jordan 33” written in red, dark colored pants, and red and white low top Jordan sneakers.
The fourth suspect is also described as a South Asian male and five foot eight inches tall. He was last seen wearing a black hoodie, black pants, and blue and black Jordan sneakers.
Ramanpreet Massih, 23, top left, Akashdeep Singh, 28, top right, as well as two other unidentified males are sought in connect with a March 27 road rage incident in Brampton. (PRP photos)
“As investigators continue to investigate and search for the suspects who are all believed to be evading police, they are encouraged to seek legal counsel and turn themselves in to the police,” PRP said in a news release.
Anyone with information about the whereabouts of these suspects, or anyone who witnessed the incident or has footage of it is asked to contact PRP’s 21 Division Criminal Investigations Bureau at 905-453-3311, ext. 2133, or Crime Stoppers anonymously.
With files from CP24’s Lindsay Biscaia.