Ventura

When a Couple Tried to Defuse a Road-Rage Confrontation, an Enraged Man Turned His Fury on Them

A man armed with a baseball bat threatened drivers at a Sherman Oaks intersection

A couple recounted the frightening moments Wednesday night when an enraged man wielding a baseball bat first threatened another driver at a Sherman Oaks intersection before turning his anger on them.  

While sitting in their minivan a stoplight at Ventura Boulevard and Dixie Canyon, James Dallas and his wife, Alitzah Wiener, saw a well-dressed man get out of his Dodge Challenger and walk over to another driver. They said they wanted to de-escalate a situation that seemed to be on the verge of boiling over.

"I see this guy going crazy, cursing and banging on this woman's car," Wiener said.

Dallas rolled down his window and asked the man to stop. He said, "Hey, man, you don't want to do this. It's not worth it."

That's when the man turned his attention to Dallas, looking at him with rage in his eyes, Wiener said.

"He popped his trunk and then I saw the bat, and that's when I lost it, and I was screaming and crying," she said. 

Dallas said the man smashed his window as he started to pull away. Just as Wiener jumped out of her car, she started screaming down Ventura Boulevard.

"Please call the cops!"

Then the man bolted after the light changed. A restaurant valet tried to help, capturing a cellphone video of the Dodge Challenger heading east on Ventura.

The police report labeled it a road rage case.

"I wouldn't recommend a lot of people get involved and I shouldn't have either," Dallas said. "Guys like that need to get off the road."

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