Road rage may have caused wild crash in Wakefield, filmed

Wakefield police believe a wild crash filmed Wednesday may have been the conclusion of a traffic incident that started on I-95.

In the video seen on Victor Oliveira’s dash cam, a white Toyota SUV and a black Toyota Corolla collide. The SUV, which was approaching from behind, mounted only the two driver’s side wheels on top of the Corolla before the SUV crashed through a neighbor’s fence on Salem St. and Chapman Rd., leaving a mess of debris in their yard. .

Hearing the heavy impact inside, Oliveira ran outside and began chasing the Corolla driver who had run off. Police later said the driver, a 38-year-old Marblehead man, 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 to go after the guy and see what the hell is going on, why is he running. And then it turned out that we were jumping fences, going through yards, and basically telling him all the time that we were running, I 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. Finally, the driver stopped and waited for the police.

“I don’t want him to get in trouble for running away or fleeing the scene or whatever,” Oliveira said. “I’d rather he face his problems. Kind of like I did. I had problems. I went to jail a long time ago and I’ve cleaned up my record and I’m doing the right thing.”

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

The Marblehead driver will be issued 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 were thankful their children were at school and not playing in the backyard as they often do.

“We’re just lucky and happy that no one was hurt, especially our kids,” Paul Pisani said. “Property damage can be repaired, but not our children.”

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

“Honestly, it kind of annoys me, because me and my family, we have kids, we have dogs, and we cross the street all the time,” Oliveira said. “And I can only imagine if it had been 20 minutes earlier when we were crossing the street and this would have happened and we would all be dead.”

The Good Project is having a comedy night fundraiser at Prince Pizza on June 9th at 5pm. The $40 entry fee covers all-you-can-eat pizza, with proceeds benefiting people experiencing homelessness and addiction.

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