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A motorcyclist is recovering after being run over in a road rage crash in Burke. The other driver was arrested by Fairfax County Police.
BURKE, Va. — A Fairfax County man says he’s grateful to be alive after he was run over by an SUV in what police are calling a road rage incident.
Jaiden Stylez spoke to WUSA9 from his hospital bed Wednesday night, still in visible pain and emotional about the terrifying moments that unfolded just 24 hours prior.
“I thought I was gonna die,” he said.
Around 3 p.m. Tuesday, he says he was riding his motorcycle along Shiplett Boulevard in Burke, Va., when another driver started brake-checking him.
“There’s this blue-like car that decides to start brake-checking me,” he said.
To get away, he said he moved into the bike lane.
“There was no bikers. It was safe for me to go to avoid this guy, so I did that because I didn’t like him still brake-checking,” he said. “When I did that, I guess he got mad that I was in the bike lane and then he aggressively swerved to the right, and when I got mad and I was like, ‘What are you doing?’.
Things quickly escalated.
“We start arguing, pointing fingers,” he said. He says he got so frustrated that this driver had tried to swerve into him, that he punched the driver’s side mirror.
After gathering his bearings, he says he tried to ride off on his motorcycle, but the driver of the SUV was not having it.
“He aggressively, no thought, no hesitation, full force runs me over,” Jaiden said.
As the SUV came to a stop on top of him, he began to panic, fearing the worst.
“I thought I was gonna die. I couldn’t breathe I felt the tires on me. I felt everything. I felt things crushing inside as the pressure kept going,” he explained.
Cell phone footage shows the SUV on top of him and his motorcycle.
“I was screaming for something or someone to help me get the car off me,” he recalled.
His girlfriend, Rachel Abed, was driving behind him with her 5-year-old son in the car when it happened.
“It happened so fast, and it was shocking,” she said.
But what shocked her more, the way the driver of the SUV was acting.
“He didn’t say a word, like he was so calm, like, he didn’t just run over a whole human being very intently and violently,” she said.
In the midst of the chaos, they saw good unfold, as people nearby rushed over to help.
“I think there was like six of us, we lifted the car up so that Jaiden could get out from underneath,” Abed said.
Jaiden called the strangers who helped him “angels.”
“I do wanna just say, thank you guys so much. You guys know who you were and you guys are amazing. You guys are angels in that sense,” he said.
Fairfax County police arrested the driver, identified as Matthias Poehler, and charged him with malicious wounding and reckless driving. He has since been released on bond.
Jaiden acknowledged that he regrets engaging with the driver but says it doesn’t justify what unfolded.
Facing at least three or four more surgeries, he’s focusing on the lessons he’s learned from the incident.
“I literally could have died that day, and I didn’t, and I feel like I’m here for a legitimate reason,” Jaiden said. “Cherish the people that you do love. Time is everything in the present moment. Don’t take it for granted. Because you just never know what’s gonna happen.”
He still has a long road towards recovery. His loved ones have created a GoFundMe page to help with medical costs.
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