In what appears to be a bizarre road-rage incident, a gray Chevrolet Silverado driver was seen taunting a Hyundai Elantra driver and even blowing kisses for reasons that remain unclear. The Elantra driver captured the encounter on camera, but the situation quickly escalated after the Silverado driver performed a maneuver, leading to a crash.
A video shared by WFLA and originally posted by the Florida Highway Patrol shows the pickup driver traveling alongside the Elantra on Interstate 75 in Riverview while blowing kisses toward the other driver through the open window.
At one point, the Silverado moves dangerously close to the sedan. The pickup driver then appears to shout something at the Elantra driver, who keeps the windows closed, ignores the behavior, and continues filming the encounter.
The continued filming may have prompted the Silverado driver to overtake the sedan and aggressively swerve into its lane. He then appeared to brake-check the Elantra, leaving the other driver with little time to react.
Image Credit: Florida Highway Patrol
The sedan subsequently collided with the pickup truck. Notably, the crash is not shown in the video, but reports confirm that the collision did take place.
A separate report by WFLA stated that the Silverado driver fled the scene. Troopers responded to the hit-and-run crash just after 4:30 p.m. on September 24 on I-75 near mile marker 254.
The victim was a 23-year-old Apollo Beach man who was driving the Elantra. Alberto Irizarry Rivera, 55, was identified as the Silverado driver. He reportedly drove erratically through afternoon traffic.
Rivera allegedly left the area after the collision without stopping to provide information. Florida Highway Patrol later located and arrested him at his home that same evening.
Rivera was subsequently booked into Hillsborough County Jail. He faces charges of reckless driving resulting in property damage and leaving the scene of a crash involving property damage.
It remains unclear whether the Elantra driver sustained any injuries in the crash. The incident highlights how quickly an apparent road-rage encounter can escalate into a collision. What began with taunting between two drivers ultimately resulted in a crash and criminal charges, while the footage provides a glimpse of the events leading up to the collision.