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Couple: Man Jumped On Van, Threw Dog During Road Rage Run-In

MONTCLAIR, N.J. (CBSNewYork) -- A small dog was pulled out of a couple's van during a road rage dispute.

The dog wasn't hurt, but the pet owners said the man who did it should still be punished.

The fight caught on video shows the tail end of what police are calling a road rage incident between Gary Kaey and Marc Dionne.

Gary and Linda Kaey claim Dionne had been weaving in and out of traffic on Bloomfield Avenue in Montclair for a half-mile before getting stuck at a bus stop and getting out of his car in a rage.

"He was upset about the stopping bus in front of him, jumped out on our hood, stomped on the hood," Linda said.

That's when another driver started recording Kaey and Dionne out in the road throwing punches before Kaey headed back to his mini-van.

Dionne can then be seen reaching into the passenger's side of the van, grabbing Kaey's 12-year-old dog Daphna, and flinging her nearly 30 ft in the air.

"Obviously he couldn't get the best of me, so he chose to take an innocent animal and try to hurt me with that," Kaey said.

Remarkably Daphna survived the toss, and ran back toward her owner, as Dionne peeled away.

"I reached down and grabbed her, kind of like a football grab and saved her life," Kaey said.

The whole interaction is still sinking in for the Kaeys who also had their newborn granddaughter with them when it happened.

Speaking exclusively with CBS2's Jessica Borg, Dionne's mother said her son is the victim.

"I think the man should be punished for assaulting my son," she said.

She said her son was being forced off the road by Kaey and that's why he got angry.

"Unfortunately without thinking, Marc was trying to get the guy away from him, and therefore he reached into the car. He's not an animal hater, he's an animal lover," she said.

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