Road-Rage Victim Hit By Own Car In Hemet Describes Confrontation

HEMET (CBSLA.com) — A man who was hit by his own car during a road-rage incident last week is speaking out about the ordeal for the first time about what led up to the event.

The argument escalated into violence caught on a cellphone video when one man involved in the incident stole the victim's car and used it to plow into him. The impact sent the victim, Tracy Leavitt, into the air.

Leavitt is now back home after a week in a hospital with extensive injuries. He can still barely sit up.

"(I'm) trying to recuperate, like anyone else, you know," Leavitt said. "I want to get back on my feet, get back to my usual self."

Leavitt suggests that the video shows only part of what transpired that day. He says his altercation with the two young suspects, aged 17 and 18 years old, began at a grocery store.

"I pulled out of State Brothers that morning with milk," Leavitt recalled. "They were ranting and raving, and it caught me off-guard."

Leavitt says that after an offensive gesture from the suspects, they then threw a drink at him. Eventually, he says, they all pulled over in a Hemet neighborhood, and the fight spilled into the street.

"The one kid jumped in my wife's car. I left it running when I got out," Leavitt said. "They took off in my wife's car. If you notice, the video, I thought he was going to do a tackle maneuver on me, so I swung on him, then I turned around, and 'boom.' "

Michael Williams, 18, is now facing an attempted murder charge, and it is unclear whether the second suspect, a juvenile, will be tried as an adult.

Leavitt says that once he is well enough, he wants to thank the woman he says was brave enough to record the incident.

"She's the first woman that spoke to me after those young men sped off. I'm very grateful for that young woman."