An alarming street incident was captured on video recently. An Army veteran dealing with PTSD reported that a woman leaped from her car and sprayed him in the face with pepper spray simply because he was driving too slowly for her liking.
The altercation took place around 9:30 a.m. on Wilson Avenue in Vallejo, where new “speed charts” have been installed to encourage drivers to adhere to a 15 mph limit in certain areas of a 30 mph zone.
The victim, Joe Valerie, was operating a bucket truck for a company providing internet services to City Hall when he noticed a Nissan Altima closely trailing him, evidently annoyed by his speed.
“There are speed bumps on that road, so you really have to take it slow,” Valerie, a father of two, explained. He mentioned that his cautious driving was necessary due to the road’s design and the size of his vehicle.
As both vehicles continued navigating the one-lane area, tensions grew.
“I could tell someone was trying to push me away,” he recounted. “The bucket truck is large and heavy, which means I can’t drive it fast.”
The situation escalated when the road widened near Hitchbourne Street.
Valerie reported that the woman sped past him, cut in front, and then abruptly braked, forcing him to stop with her car still behind him.
That’s when the conflict turned aggressive.
A video taken by Valerie shows the woman exiting her vehicle and approaching his truck, where she sprayed pepper spray directly into his open window.
“Are you scared? You should be scared,” she allegedly said just before spraying him up close.
Valerie screamed in pain as the spray hit his eyes.
“She got me right in the eyeball,” he said, his voice filled with shock.
In the video, he can be heard exclaiming in disbelief.
Even after the attack, Valerie maintained that he didn’t confront the woman and tried his best to de-escalate the situation.
Despite being blinded by the spray, he managed to drive to a nearby liquor store to rinse his eyes before heading to Kaiser Permanente for medical attention.
Valerie, who works as a process server, expressed that the incident left him rattled, even though he was simply doing his job.
Vallejo police have indicated they believe they know who the suspect is and will be referring the case to the Solano County District Attorney’s Office for further investigation.
The California Post has reached out to both the Vallejo Police Department and the Solano County District Attorney’s Office about the ongoing investigation of the alleged attacker.
