A couple walking their dog near Mid-Wilshire narrowly avoided being run over. The incident took place on Wednesday evening after an enraged driver deliberately veered into a public park to charge at them.
The terrifying encounter unfolded at the edge of Harold A. Henry Park in LA. It was captured on an Uber driver’s dashcam. The clip shows an orange vehicle executing a sharp left turn from a stop sign. It swerved onto the grass and drove directly toward the pedestrians. The driver then proceeded to jump a curb to exit the park.
The couple said the encounter escalated rapidly after the driver initiated a verbal altercation. The argument intensified over who was supposed to cross the street.
The couple was allegedly on a call and motioned for the driver to proceed at a stop sign so they could cross the street. However, it triggered a sudden and violent response.
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At first, the dog walkers thought he would just drive by without escalating the situation. However, the driver had other plans. “We thought he was just going to drive through, and then I hear him yell, ‘What, you don’t speak effing English,’” the woman, identified as Celine Bettencourt, recalled in a conversation with ABC7.
Her fiancé, Ben Logan, recalled that as soon as he saw the vehicle turning to charge at them, he jumped in to save their pet dachshund, Olive. He mentioned that they narrowly escaped any serious harm.
“…that’s when he just turned his car on us and drove, you know, accelerated, drove up onto the curb. I pulled Olive to my left and, like, the car just barely missed me.”
“I just run straight on the grass as far back as I can. I look back and I see his car like right behind me,” Bettencourt recalls running for safety.
“…run run, run. and then he gets his, takes his car and turns back around, drives down the park, and then flips back around. and then there he yells at us, ‘oh, bet you’re f*ckng scared now,huh.’”
The shaken couple reported the ordeal to the Los Angeles Police Department’s Wilshire Division. However, the driver remains at large. The unsettling encounter has left both victims fearing for their safety.
“It’s just so scary knowing that it’s actually not over, like he could be still out there.”
“It all happened in a matter of seconds, but it was definitely one of the craziest things that’s ever happened to us,” Logan chimed in.
Bettencourt called for swift justice and intervention. “You need to not have a car,” she said. “You need to have some serious accountability… You need to go get help.”
Netizens expressed alarm over the road rage and voiced sympathy for the couple.
“I think the driver wanted to hit them from the get-go. Thank goodness they didn’t cross the street,” one comment on YouTube read.
“Want to make a bet that this is not his first time trying to run someone over,” added another user.
A separate commentator pointed at the driver’s intent: “Aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, intending to cause bodily harm.”
“DRIVER HAS. OBVIVIOUSLY SERIOUS. MENTAL ISSUES. LOCK UP HIM BEFORE HE DOES ANYTHING LIKE THIS AGAIN OR. WORSE. TO. INNOCENT PEOPLE.!!!!!!!!!! TAKE AWAY HIS LICENSE TOO. FOR GOOD,” said a fourth netizen.
Disclaimer: The Inquisitr could not independently confirm the facts of this incident and is reporting based on the information available within the public video record.
