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SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Highway Patrol officials were looking for a man suspected of terrorizing a mother and her children during a fit of road rage on I-15.
Luckily, the family said no one was seriously injured, but considering the recent trend of violence in road rage incidents, they expressed concern that the next person wouldn't be as lucky.
Brenden Borrowman felt Utah was the perfect place to raise his family.
"I like Utah because we have everything here," he said. "I thought this would be the safest place to raise my kids."
All of that changed Friday evening when he was left powerless to protect his family.
"That was rough," said Borrowman. "To watch that was probably the worst part of anytime I have ever been a parent in my life."
Borrowman got a frantic FaceTime call from his wife and three children. He said his wife also made a short video, capturing the alleged offending driver's face.
"He just hit me! He (expletive) hit me! He's trying to do a hit and run," Borrowman's wife said in the video.
Borrowman said in a fit of road rage, a man rammed into the back of his wife's SUV while his wife, kids and dogs were inside.
According to Borrowman, the incident happened around 5:30 p.m. He said there was a crash on I-15 southbound near the I-215 interchange that closed some of the lines, forcing traffic to merge into two lanes.
"My wife was in the far left lane in the commuter lane. There was a white truck next to her pulling a trailer and he started drifting, so she tried to speed up to not get hit or pushed into the barrier. He eventually got behind and then proceeded to accelerate and ram her," Borrowman said.
Borrowman said the man didn't stop there.
"The windows were down because we had dogs in the backseat," said Borrowman. "He started screaming at my family, 'I'm going to kill you! I'm going to kill the kids! Get out, I will show you what's up!'"
#EXCLUSIVE: "Answering a Facetime to my kids screaming 'this man is going to kill us!' as a military man is not a thing you want to hear." Brenden Borrowman says a fit of road rage ended with a man threatening and ramming his wife's SUV Friday evening. Story at 5 @KSL5TVpic.twitter.com/iI998LPvbj
— Garna Mejia KSL (@GarnaMejiaKSL) April 11, 2021
The man rammed them a second time, according to Borrowman, and terrorized them for 10 more miles.
"You don't know what people are capable of nowadays," he said. "Answering a FaceTime to my kids screaming, 'this man is going to kill us,' as a military man is not a thing you ever want to hear."
It wasn't until Utah Highway Patrol troopers stepped in that Borrowman said his wife was able to safely exit the freeway.
"He followed them from the 215 interchange to the 5300 exit where highway patrol got her off," he said. "He chased her the whole way; at one point, she was going 90 miles an hour and he was towing a trailer and keeping up with her, every lane change."
Unfortunately, troopers weren't able to track the man down.
"Our theory is that a person like this has done it before. He's prone to violence," said Borrowman. "You don't just snap and do this on the highway."
That's why Borrowman hopes the public can help identify the driver of the truck.
"They haven't slept in two days," he said. "They're all scared someone is going to come to the house and get them."
The Borrowmans think one of the drivers on the highway had a dash cam that possibly captured the incident and the driver's license plate. They said they are offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who can successfully identify the man.
Anyone with information on the driver can also contact UHP SLC Dispatch at 801-284-5520.
In road rage situations, troopers suggest calling 911 and pulling back from a confrontation.
