Navy veteran victim of apparent road rage attack

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Another violent road rage incident on a Bay Area roadway left a Navy veteran on crutches, and reflecting on how the situation escalate so quickly.

The video, recorded by Abe Garcia and shared hundreds of thousands of times online, starts as a motorcyclist and the driver of a silver Pontiac argue at a stop light at the intersection of U.S. Highway 41 and County Line Road in Pasco County.

Seconds later, the video shows the driver of the Pontiac run over the motorcycle, along with its driver and passenger, before speeding off.

Joe Calderazzo was the guy on the Harley Davidson motorcycle. He a veteran of the U.S. Navy and said he was out riding with friends on Memorial Day. He spoke with FOX 13 News about the incident.

"There was a car that was driving very erratically," Calderazzo said.

Calderazzo said the driver of the Pontiac, identified by Florida Highway Patrol as Robert Vance, was weaving in and out of traffic and nearly clipped his friend's bike.

As they approached the stop light, Calderazzo and Vance started arguing.

"He was already yelling and screaming, [so] we started yelling and screaming," Calderazzo said.

But no one expected Vance  to run over the bike and everyone on it.

"All of a sudden, he backed up, turned the wheels towards my bike, so I didn't really have very much time to react," Calderazzo explained. "I went to go get out of the way and he just drove right over us."

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Garcia couldn't believe what he was recording.

"I wanted to video tape it, just in case, then things kind of went from zero to 100 very quickly," he said. "One thing led to another and the next thing you know, this guy is trying to kill them, trying to run them over."

Shortly after the incident, Garcia showed Calderazzo the video.

"He's like, 'I don't know if you saw what this looks like,'" Calderazzo explained. "He had it on his phone and, at that moment, I was like, 'wow, we are lucky to be alive. We really are.'"

Calderazzo's leg was broken when he was run over. His passenger had some cuts and bruises.

Eyewitnesses followed the driver when he took off and called law enforcement. Troopers said they tracked Vance down at his home on Lutz Lake Fern Road, not far from where the crash happened. Officers said they found a spare tire on the car and a shredded tire in the trunk.

The Florida Highway Patrol called Vance a habitual traffic offender.  The 31-year-old was initially charged with leaving the scene of a crash and aggravated battery. He now faces two counts of attempted murder. His bond was increased to $115,000 and his vehicle was seized by law enforcement. 

He still faces charges of leaving the scene of a crash with injury and driving while his license was suspended.