A Blind River man has been charged with two counts of assault as a result of an apparent road rage incident in the north shore community last month.
Dashcam footage obtained by SooToday provides a glimpse into the Sept. 12 scene at the intersection of Huron Avenue and Causley Street, where a motorist becomes audibly frustrated with the driver of a white pickup truck that appeared to be sitting idle at a stop sign.
“Why isn’t this person f⸺ going? What the f⸺?,” says the motorist, before laying on the horn and yelling at the other driver.
The driver of the white pickup truck then exits the vehicle and approaches the motorist behind him at the intersection, which is situated along the stretch of TransCanada Highway going through the town of Blind River.
“You got a f⸺ problem? F⸺ drive, a⸺!” the motorist yells at the driver of the white pickup, as he approaches the vehicle.
Loud screaming can be then heard on the dashcam video. “Get the f⸺ out of my car!” yells one of the passengers in the vehicle.
“Don’t f⸺ beep at me,” a man can be heard saying. “Don’t f⸺ beep at me, you c⸺r.”
What appears to be a physical struggle can be heard away from the camera’s lens before the driver of the white pickup eventually returns to his truck.
Mathieu Piche of Blind River says he was the driver of the vehicle behind the pickup truck. He claims that both he and his wife were assaulted by the pickup driver while taking two of their children to elementary school that morning.
“He came in the car and tried hitting me. He hit my wife in the face trying to punch me,” said Piche, in a telephone interview with SooToday. “At that point, I was able to spin sideways and get my feet into his neck and grab him by the sweater, and I just hauled on his sweater, with my toes on his throat, until he was bent backwards and wanted out of the car.”
After dropping off his kids at school, Piche proceeded to the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) detachment in Blind River, where he informed police that he and his wife had been assaulted.
A spokesperson for East Algoma OPP confirmed to SooToday that Allan Savard is facing two counts of assault in the alleged incident.
The charges have yet to be tested in court and Savard is considered innocent unless proven guilty. A message left for Savard by SooToday via social media has not been returned.
Piche was provided with an electronic copy of an undertaking document from the OPP, which says Savard is prohibited from being at places Piche and his wife are “known to live, work, go to school or frequent.”
Savard is scheduled to make his first appearance in Elliot Lake court Nov. 20.
