(rdnewsNOW file photo)

By Sheldon Spackman

Mar. 27-Apr. 6, 2023

Jury trial scheduled for man charged in Red Deer road rage incident

Mar 8, 2022 | 1:07 PM

Dates for a jury trial have been set for a man charged in a Red Deer road rage incident resulting in a partial leg amputation for the victim.

Andrew Charles Hunter, 34, is scheduled for trial from Mar. 27-Apr. 6, 2023 in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench.

Hunter is charged with dangerous operation of a conveyance causing bodily harm, failure to stop after an accident resulting in bodily harm, and assault with a weapon in the Jan. 26, 2020 incident.

At about 4 p.m. that day, the 26-year-old male victim at the time was driving westbound on 67 Street as he went to make a pickup from a restaurant near Golden West Avenue.

According to the victim, Matthew Ekstrom, he was in the middle lane and realized he needed to get right in order to make his turn in time. As he sped up to switch lanes, so too did the vehicle to his right, blocking his path.

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Ekstrom ultimately did get into the right-side lane, he recalled while speaking to rdnewsNOW following the incident, but the driver of the other car sped around him and cut him off before slamming on the brakes.

With them both stopped on 67 Street, Ekstrom alleges the other driver got out of their vehicle and tried opening his locked door before punching and cracking the driver-side window. That’s when Ekstrom, who was already on the phone with a friend who was at nearby Taylor Plaza, asked him to come for help.

The other driver allegedly backed off and went back to his vehicle before following Ekstrom into the restaurant’s parking lot. When Ekstrom’s friend arrived, he says they got out of their vehicles to confront the suspect driver and hopefully scare him away.

When Ekstrom’s friend went to call 9-1-1, the other driver allegedly rammed into Ekstrom as he stood alone, knocking him to the ground.

“When I was laying on my right side, I felt his bumper over top the left side of my body,” he told rdnewsNOW. “I thought he was going to run me completely over. I thought I was going to die.”

“I had so much adrenaline, I didn’t even feel my ankle, but he ran over the bottom part of my leg and I was sliding on the ice.”

The collision resulted in life-altering injuries.

“It was mangled, so the best option was to amputate,” lamented Ekstrom, who ended up having part of his right leg removed.

“Everyone I’ve told just shakes their head, like how could someone have that much road rage?”

RCMP located and arrested the suspect driver outside the city.

Related: Delivery driver has leg amputated after alleged road rage incident