Police: Road rage may have caused wild Wakefield crash caught on video

WAKEFIELD, Mass. — Wakefield police believe a wild crash captured on video Wednesday may have been the conclusion of a road rage incident starting on I-95.

In the video seen on Victor Oliveira’s doorbell camera, a white Toyota SUV and a black Toyota Corolla collide. The SUV, which had been approaching from behind, goes up on only its two driver’s side wheels on top of the Corolla before the SUV crashes through a neighbor’s fence at Salem St., and Chapman Rd., leaving a mess of debris in their backyard.

Wakefield crash investigated as possible ‘road rage incident,’ police say

Hearing the loud impact inside, Oliveira ran outside and began chasing the Corolla driver who had run. Police later said that driver, a 38-year-old man from Marblehead, had a suspended license.

“My adrenaline kicked in and I just wanted to see what the hell was going on,” Oliveira said. “Something just told me just go chase after the guy and see what the hell is up, why is he running. And then it turned out, I was jumping fences, going through backyards and just basically telling him the whole time that we’re running, I just said, ‘Why are you running?’”

Oliveira is known around town as “The Good Boss,” providing assistance to the homeless and people suffering from addiction through his charity, the Good Project.

As Oliveira approached the fleeing driver, he did not intend to detain the man but to help him, he said. The driver finally stopped and waited for police.

“I don’t want him to get in trouble for running away, evading the scene or whatever,” Oliveira said. “I’d rather him just face his problems. Kind of like what I did. I got in trouble. I went to prison a long time ago and cleaned up my act, and I do the right thing.”

Wakefield police said the driver of the SUV, a 33-year-old man from Nashua, N.H., was treated at the hospital for injuries and is being summoned to court on a charge of driving to endanger and a marked lanes violation.

The driver from Marblehead will receive a summons on charges of operating with a suspended license and leaving the scene of property damage.

Residents of the home with the damaged fence told Boston 25 News they are grateful their children were at school and not playing in the backyard as they often do.

“We’re just fortunate and happy that no one got hurt, especially our kids,” Paul Pisani said. “Property damage can be fixed, but not our kids.”

Oliveira, too, is glad the damage wasn’t worse.

“Honestly, it gets me kind of mad, because me and my family, we have kids, we have dogs, and we walk across the street all the time,” Oliveira said. “And I can only imagine if it was 20 minutes sooner when we were walking across the street and that happened, and we would’ve all been dead.”

The Good Project is holding a comedy night fundraiser at Prince Pizza on June 9 at 5 p.m. The $40 entrance fee covers all-you-can-eat pizza with proceeds benefiting people suffering from homelessness and addiction.

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