HIALEAH, Fla. – A Hialeah police officer was conducting a traffic stop on Friday when he noticed two men fighting in the street.
The officer quickly let the car he'd pulled over go and went over to break up the fight between two drivers who were in the throes of a road rage incident in the 1200 block of West 49th Street.
When the officer approached the combatants, he saw Hector Herrera, 24, holding a black baseball bat and the victim trying to prevent the bat from hitting him, a police report said.
The victim told the officer that Herrera became enraged when he didn't allow him to change lanes, the report said. The victim was then blocked by Herrera, who got out of his vehicle with the bat and smashed the victim's right side passenger window.
The victim became scared and attempted to drive away but crashed into Herrera's vehicle, which was blocking him, police said.
Another driver recorded the apparent case of road rage and posted the video to a Facebook group called "Only in South Florida."
The video appears to show Herrera, the driver of a white car, and the victim, who was in a white truck, get out of their vehicles and get into a physical fight.
The victim was struck in the right shoulder with the bat, police said, and the fight continued in the street until the officer was able to break it up.
Herrera spoke to Local 10 News about the incident and admits he lost his temper.
"The first thing that came to my head was to grab the bat and go and fight," he said.
Jairo Linarte, whose arm was in a sling, said he feels lucky to be alive after Herrera attacked him.
"I tried to save my life, tried to get out from that situation," Linarte told Local 10 News.
Herrera was arrested on an aggravated battery charge. He was released from jail on bond.
"I would say to him, 'Hey, I'm sorry for this situation. We both don't want to be in (these) kind of situations because this is no good for nobody,'" Herrera said.