Seattle police arrest pair of drivers following road rage incident at Pike Place Market

Seattle police arrested two men after a road rage altercation at Pike Place Market on Sunday.

The incident began when two men — one a 32-year-old driving an SUV and the other a 45-year-old in a van — exchanged heated words as the SUV was turning onto First Avenue along Pike Place Market.

Early friction surfaces in bid to remove cars from Pike Place Market

Police say that the driver of the van threw water toward the 32-year-old in the SUV, leading to both getting out of the respective vehicles to physically confront each other. The 32-year-old then reportedly shoved the 45-year-old to the ground, before getting back into his vehicle and beginning to drive further down First Avenue.

The 45-year-old subsequently ran up to the SUV, hit the driver, and returned to his van.

It’s at this point that a 54-year-old man driving a Mazda pulled up next to the driver in the SUV to engage in “a verbal altercation,” exiting his car with a hammer and shattering the SUV’s back window.

With the hammer being left behind, the 32-year-old driving the SUV grabbed it and smashed the Mazda’s windshield in retaliation. The driver of the Mazda proceeded to back his vehicle up, and then drove it into the 32-year-old, also hitting an “uninvolved woman” who police say worked nearby.

The driver of the SUV — still holding the hammer — used the tool to hit the driver of the Mazda through his open window, before police were able to intervene and arrest both men, who were later booked into jail for assault.

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