Around 7 p.m. on Saturday, April 2, a car in a McDonald’s parking lot drove towards a group of motorcyclists and hit one person on a moped. The blow prompted a fight between the motorcyclists and the driver at the McDonald’s at 515 Gallivan Blvd. in Dorchester.
The incident was caught on video by several witnesses who recorded the altercation on their cell phones. The most widely shared video was taken from a restaurant across the street.
“The video shows the red Honda turning quickly into the McDonald’s parking lot, driving right into a group of people on motorbikes, striking one of them and continuing through a metal fence,” reports WCVB.
Boston.com reports that in addition to being struck by the vehicle, the motorcyclist was nearly run over, but escaped by hopping over the broken fence as the vehicle stopped.
As the motorcyclist tried to pull his moped out from under the vehicle, another motorcyclist threw what seemed to be a large rock into the driver’s side window of the vehicle, leaving it smashed. After that, two more of the individuals riding mopeds opened the car door and pulled out the driver as well as a passenger. The video shows the driver and one of the moped riders punching each other out in the street outside of the broken fence.
WCVB spoke to Michael Nader, a witness of the altercation, who was driving home past the McDonald’s when the fight broke out.
“It was pretty chaotic. Just people running all over the place and people were just … one guy was getting beaten with helmets,” said Nader. “It was just craziness. It was chaos.”
Nader also shared how the incident impacted traffic.
“People were running in between cars, so traffic had to stop. People were afraid to hit people running across the street, running through cars,” said Nader. “I just hope no one got hurt. It could have gotten serious.”
Boston.com sheds more light on the police report, which states that Boston police officers spoke with two of the victims in the bathroom inside the McDonald’s. Both victims were reportedly bleeding and had suffered head injuries as well as other lacerations. Both victims were treated at Boston Medical Center.
According to the police report, the second victim claimed to be the passenger of the car. She and the driver had been making their way down Gallivan Boulevard upon seeing a group of moped riders weaving in and out of traffic.
“The victim told police she lowered her window and asked the moped riders to let the car through, but the riders began throwing rocks at the car,” reports Boston.com. “She said the car had rear-ended another car during that time and so they had called 911. The victim told police that they then tried to pull over, but were assaulted by the moped riders, who were both male and female and of varying ages.”
The report mentions two witnesses, both in the same car, who recalled the mopeds “weaving in and out of traffic, driving erratically and throwing rocks at the red sedan.”
No arrests have been made in connection to this altercation, and police have yet to identify any suspects.
The incident was shared on social media, including on the Reddit page “r/IdiotsInCars,” which is a subReddit with over three million followers. A post containing a two minute video of the incident received nearly 54,000 “votes.”
