Video shows plow driver blast man with snow in Philadelphia. He believes it was intentional.
A man in Philadelphia's Fishtown neighborhood said a snowplow driver deliberately dropped his blade and blasted him with snow and ice while he was shoveling before work Monday morning.
Jeff Hart, a longtime Fishtown resident, said he believes the act was intentional and is speaking out because he fears someone could be seriously hurt.
Hart said he woke up early to shovel a path connecting the office building where he works to York Street. As he cleared snow along the sidewalk shortly before 9 a.m., a plow truck approached.
"I got to right about here, and I just started shoveling back," Hart said. "I turned a little bit this way, and that's when I just heard boom! And it just plowed me with snow."
Hart said he wasn't hurt, but chunks of ice struck him with force.
"I guess I got lucky because I felt the chunks hit me," he said. "It definitely felt like getting punched, because it was big blocks, chunks of ice."
Hart reviewed footage from multiple surveillance cameras and said it shows the plow blade was raised as the truck approached, then lowered just before it reached him.
"His plow stays up in the air — no snow, no slush is moving — until he gets kind of where we're standing, like two cars before it, and then the plow goes down," Hart said. "And right after he passes me, the plow goes back up again."
About a block away, Hart said he saw the same truck spray snow and ice onto an elderly man carrying bags on the opposite side of the street. That changed his reaction to the incident.
"I didn't mind so much when it happened to me because me and my friends thought it was hilarious," Hart said. "For me, luckily, I didn't get hurt. But seeing what he did to that guy, it's like, 'That's dangerous,' especially because I know it was ice and snow."
Using surveillance video, Hart isolated a freeze-frame image of the unmarked truck. He believes it may belong to a private plow driver and wants the person responsible held accountable.
"To hit someone that I'm pretty certain was a senior citizen, that's just not right," Hart said. "At that point, you've got to be held accountable for something like that. That's not a joke anymore."
Hart said he is considering filing a police report.
Philadelphia police said they have not received other reports of similar behavior. A spokesperson said if investigators can prove the act was intentional, it could be considered a crime.