Video: CHP investigating road rage incident

The California Highway Patrol is investigating an apparent road rage incident on the northbound I-5 near downtown Los Angeles after cell phone video of the confrontation was posted online on Tuesday.

At a news briefing Wednesday morning, CHP officer Denise Joslin said the incident apparently occurred at about 3:30 p.m. June 12 on the northbound I-5 south of Seventh Street, City News Service reported.

Authorities are looking for the men involved and asked witnesses to call the CHP Central Area office at 213-744-2331.

CHP officer Chris Baldonado said the incident was reported as "highway violence" and by the time officers and firefighters arrived at the scene, all those involved had left.

The video, posted on the website LiveLeak, shows one man arguing with three other men outside their cars on the side of the freeway. One of the men was thrown to the ground by two men, who then kicked him as he was lying on the pavement. The three men fled the scene in a Volkswagen Jetta, license plate number 3UGW962.

Baldonado advised motorists to be courteous to one another and to treat each other with respect.

"First off, the freeway is not a fighting ring," Baldonado said. "Be the bigger person and let it go. It's not worth it as you can see in the video."

As a witness, Baldonado said the best thing to do is to call 911 and let authorities handle the incident.

Here in Orange County, an apparent road rage incident occurred in late May when a two-vehicle crash slowed traffic and caused a confrontation on the southbound I-5 at Orangewood.

In April 2011, a Santa Ana man was sentenced to 11 years in state prison for ramming another driver, who died at the scene, with his car after a fight on an off-ramp of the I-605 in Long Beach.

City News Service contributed to this report.

Contact the writer: amolina@ocregister.com or 714-704-3795 or twitter.com/alemolina