Video from two home surveillance cameras captured a wild weekend incident where a distraught Cambridge man caused a collision before running naked through Hespeler streets as stunned neighbours watched in shock.
Edited video of the Saturday incident on Lardner Street, posted to a private account on YouTube but shared widely on Facebook, shows what looks like a white Volkswagon Tiguan speed around the corner on Lardner approaching Jamieson Parkway, and sideswipe a Dodge minivan that appears to be accelerating away from the Volkswagen.
The minivan loses control, speeds into two snowbanks, across a front lawn, clips a car parked in a driveway and slams into another parked car before coming to a stop.
The driver of the minivan gets out and steps around his vehicle in shock but apparently unhurt as the Tiguan tilts onto two wheels, slides through a snowbank, rolls across the street, hits another snowbank, goes up on two wheels and rolls back into the road, windshield wipers cranked to top speed.
When the driver of the Volkswagen exits his vehicle, he appears to be completely naked except for a large towel or blanket held over his lower body.
The bearded man then walks barefoot on the sidewalk toward Jamieson Parkway, past two people walking dogs.
The action is captured from multiple security cameras and pieced together to display the incident in real time, starting at around 4:05 p.m. according to one camera’s timestamp.
Police said the man crossed Jamieson, entered a restaurant in the nearby plaza and caused property damage before leaving and entering another vehicle as a passenger.
The video's timestamp shows that six minutes later, at 4:13 p.m., an ambulance arrives on Lardner and passes another SUV that’s pulled in front of the driveway where the minivan struck the parked vehicle.
About five people stand around the vehicle, some on cell phones, as the ambulance parks on the street.
A minute later, a paramedic is at the back of the ambulance motioning for someone to get out of the parked SUV when the naked man emerges from the passenger side.
He lifts the towel up to cover his face as he exits and walks in the opposite direction of the ambulance toward a woman on a cell phone near the Volkswagen who appears to know him.
She motions toward him and tries to embrace him but he continues walking, dropping the towel and lifting his arms defiantly before entering the Volkswagen and driving away. People around the vehicle shout for him to stop, but he continues driving toward Jamieson.
As the Volkswagen approaches Jamieson Parkway, hazards blinking, a man and woman attempt to alert drivers about the vehicle, which slowly turns right as a fire vehicle stops to turn left onto Lardner.
The man following the Volkswagen on foot manages to open the passenger door and appears to be talking to the driver as he’s trying to stop the vehicle. By then, two firefighters have exited their vehicle to slow traffic around the incident.
As the Volkswagen slows, a pickup truck with its emergency light blinking weaves around the man and in front of the Volkswagen to block it. A white pickup drives up to block him from behind.
Two minutes later, the naked man emerges from his vehicle and eludes three firefighters as he jogs back to Lardner where he begins sprinting toward the parked ambulance.
Several people watch, stunned, from the sidewalk as the man appears to try to gain entry to the ambulance before rushing around the side and running out of view down the street.
A minute later, he comes back into camera view, running on the sidewalk towards another woman who appears to know him and is holding a blanket for him.
He crouches, drapes the blanket around his shoulders and runs into the driveway of the home with the security camera and into an open garage.
A man who appears to be the home’s owner immediately comes rushing up his driveway, shouting for the man to get out.
When he ushers the man outside, he immediately turns onto the walkway to the front door and rushes inside.
“Don’t go in that house,” shouts the homeowner.
Screams can be heard inside as the homeowner runs in after the naked man.
A firefighter then rushes in behind them, followed by one more.
Two more firefighters approach the house as the other two firefighters exit, holding the naked man and tackling him into the snow on the home’s front lawn.
The homeowner runs out behind them and tells the firefighters his wife has been assaulted. A paramedic runs inside to help.
The video ends at 4:18 p.m.
Police charged a 40-year-old Cambridge man with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, break and enter, assault, careless driving, failing to properly wear a seatbelt, speeding and racing a motor vehicle.
The man was transported by Region of Waterloo Paramedics to a local hospital for treatment and was held for a bail hearing.
Two victims, the driver of the grey Dodge and the individual assaulted at the residence, were transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
As of Tuesday morning, the video has over 200,000 views.
