Cell phone video shows man in SUV allegedly trying to run over teens
ROCKFORD, Ill. -- A video posted to YouTube shows a man allegedly trying to run down a group of teenagers with his SUV, reports CBS affiliate WIFR.
Roy Williams, 56, was arrested shortly after the July 29 incident, which police in Rockford, Ill., said began when Williams' 13-year-old daughter got into a fight outside an elementary school.
Police say after the girl told Williams about the fight, he threatened two 14-year-old girls with his cane, and then got in his 2006 Dodge Durango. The rest was caught on camera.
The video shows an SUV driving on grass, several feet from the road, and veering toward a group of teens. After narrowly missing the group, the car appears to accelerate toward a second group of teens. No one was injured.
The 15-year-old who shot the video, Nathan Velez, told WIFR that he thought Williams really was trying to strike the teens with his car.
"I just knew we had to get out of the way before he hit one of us," Velez said. "I knew he was trying to injure somebody," said Velez, who thought Williams' cane was a bat.
Williams told Rockford Assistant Deputy Police Chief Doug Pann that he drove toward the teens after fearing for his own safety.
"He had a different perspective than everyone else did," Pann said.
Still, the video provided police with enough evidence to arrest Williams for aggravated assault with a vehicle, reckless driving and other charges, Pann said. Williams is being held in jail on $15,000 bail.
"(The video) was very helpful to identify who the suspect was, but it doesn't necessarily tell the whole story, so we have to take a look at it and then talk to the people who were there," Pann said.