Toledo, Ohio — A local man is recovering from injuries after a road rage encounter that he says nearly cost him his life. Kedar Ali Abdallah, who is currently on crutches and taking painkillers, described the harrowing incident as a near-death experience.
Abdallah, a DoorDash driver, was driving down Eastgate Road on the morning of January 28 when the confrontation occurred. According to Abdallah, the incident began when he accidentally drove down a one-way street and almost collided with a white van. After realizing his mistake, Abdallah corrected his route and began driving in the proper direction, traveling alongside the van, which was driven by 45-year-old Casey Beaudoin.
The situation quickly escalated as Beaudoin allegedly began tailgating Abdallah, repeatedly brake-checking him, causing near collisions. The two drivers eventually pulled into a church parking lot, where Abdallah got out of his car in an attempt to defuse the tension. He said he apologized multiple times, but Beaudoin continued to hurl insults, some of which were racially charged.
“I literally apologized to the man probably two or three times and he just kept going on and on, hurling the insults,” Abdallah said. “Learn to read and stuff like that, I took them as him trying to say I didn’t know English.”
Abdallah, who was wearing religious attire at the time of the incident, believes the insults were racially motivated. The situation quickly turned physical when Beaudoin allegedly reached toward his thigh, leading Abdallah to grab his arm in a defensive response. The confrontation intensified when Beaudoin allegedly grabbed Abdallah by the arm, dragged him with his van, and then drove off.
“I tried to spin out of the way, but still got hit by the van. He clipped the left side of me so it sent me flying and I’ve got bruises all over,” Abdallah recounted. “I temporarily blacked out after being hit.”
After the van hit Abdallah, Beaudoin reportedly sped away from the scene, driving recklessly through nearby residential neighborhoods. However, several witnesses managed to chase after the van and capture a clear image of its license plate.
Toledo police later arrested Beaudoin and charged him with felonious assault. Body camera footage from the arrest showed Beaudoin claiming he was the victim, saying Abdallah had threatened him and tried to attack him first.
“This is insane. The guy literally almost ran head-on into me and then literally rode my ass all the way down Eastgate until I got out and said ‘What’s your problem?’ And he got out and started threatening me, tried to hit me, so I grabbed his arm and took off,” Beaudoin said during his arrest.
Despite the conflicting accounts, Abdallah maintains that Beaudoin was the aggressor in the situation. “Whether it was a hate crime or not, whether I got out of my car or not, him hitting me with a van twice is extremely unacceptable,” Abdallah said.
Abdallah, who has two young daughters, reflected on how lucky he feels to have survived the ordeal. He urged others involved in road rage incidents to avoid leaving their vehicles, advising that it is safer to stay inside if tensions are high.
“This is a reminder that things can escalate quickly, and you never know what someone else might do,” Abdallah said. “I’m just grateful to be alive.”