CALLAWAY, Md. (May 01, 2019)—Maryland State Police have cited a Lexington Park man with multiple traffic violations in connection with a reported road rage incident last month on Great Mills Road involving a fire truck. The story drew public fury after it was revealed that the man allegedly had an infant in the car at the time of the incident.
Christopher Tyler, age 30, was cited for driving a motor vehicle without a valid license, driving a motor vehicle with a suspended out-of-state license, negligent driving, changing lanes when unsafe, failure to use a turn signal prior to a turn and stopping a vehicle in an intersection.
According to a preliminary investigation, at about 2:25 p.m. on April 23, Tyler, who was driving a Hyundai Sonata on Great Mills Road in Lexington Park, pulled alongside a fire engine from the Bay District Volunteer Fire Department and started yelling at the fire crew. Tyler then pulled in front of the fire truck and came to a complete stop in the middle of the road. This forced the fire truck to stop in the road as well. After a brief altercation, Tyler drove away.
While police said in a press release today that Tyler was shouting at the firemen "for an unknown reason," closer examination of the dashcam video and audio from the fire engine reveals
the first part of a vehicle to vehicle conversation where Tyler was expressing frustration at the fire crew driving 50 MPH in what, based on the vicinity, would have been a 40 MPH or lower speed zone.
The conversation, which can be heard on the above clip posted on Soundcloud, went as follows:
Car: Why are you all [truck engine revs cutting out speaker]
Fireman: What?
Car: Why are y'all allowed to break the speed limit?
Fireman: Allowed to break the speed limit!?
Car: Y'all were just doing 50.
At this point, approximately 7.3 seconds of audio was clipped from the video which immediately precedes the
driver pulling in front of the truck and slamming on his brakes. About 1.6
seconds after the audio is restored, the truck's horn is sounded as the
brakes are slammed on to avoid hitting the car.
It is not known if the missing audio is the result of equipment failure or human editing. SMNEWSNET confirmed to somd.com this evening that they received the video clip with the audio missing.
No one was injured as a result of this incident.
You can watch the entire dashcam video on SMNEWSNET's Youtube channel at www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IUf9oZ_a6E
Coincidentally, State Police have been known to set up speed traps on
the stretch of Great Mills Road which is visible from the dashcam on
Saturday mornings and cite drivers who are exceeding the 40 MPH posted
limit.
The Maryland State Police Leonardtown Barrack is continuing to investigate this incident.