Mother posts reward in road-rage attack

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - An Albuquerque mother is offering a cash reward to find a driver she says went berserk on her and her son.

Sonya Vigil was driving her son home from school on Tuesday when she said she exited Interstate 40 at Rio Grande Boulevard.

As they made the left hand turn onto Rio Grande, they got a rude surprise when the truck behind her got stuck in the intersection behind the backup.

“I think he was impatient that he was blocking the intersection and I’m not sure," Vigil said.  "He just got so angry."

She said the man in the truck began honking at them, and when the light ahead turned green again, she said he gunned gunned his truck cutting her off.

“If I had not slammed on the brakes and honked the first time, we would have hit the back end of him,” Vigil said.

She admits she was annoyed, so she followed the driver a little ways.

As she made her way southbound on Rio Grande she said she eventually came along side of the truck so she put her window down to tell the driver to back off.  She said that is when he threw a bottle at her son.

“When he threw the bottle I just kind of felt a pain, and then we pulled over and my mom said my neck was swelling a lot,” Vigil’s son Pepper said.

The rough ride, though, was not over yet.

Vigil said after hitting her son with a plastic bottle, the driver of the truck sideswiped her car popping her tire and causing about $5,000 worth of body damage.

Vigil said the guy then sped off leaving their car undrivable.

“It’s appalling, and I think most people would be appalled as well," Vigil said.  "It’s not something the normal person does."

She conceded she made a big mistake by following the truck and rolling down her car window.

Her son Pepper was not seriously hurt.

Vigil is offering a $500 reward for information leading police to the driver.

He was in a four-door bright red flatbed truck with temporary plates on it, she said.