A driver was going too slow. First came a road rage crash. Then came punches, Keys deputies say

The driver of a tow truck flashed his high beams at the driver of a pickup truck that was going well below the speed limit in the Upper Keys on a February night.

The driver of the pickup responded by slowing down and braking repeatedly, according to the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

The erratic driving caused the tow truck to rear-end the pickup, deputies say.

But it’s what happened next that got the pickup truck driver — later identified as Calvin Burdick, 46 — in trouble with the law. Burdick was charged with leaving the scene of a crash with damages and touching or striking a person in what deputies are calling a hit-and-run/road rage incident.

The sheriff’s office said a call came in just after 11:30 p.m. Feb. 2 that there had been an assault near Mile Marker 106.

The tow truck driver told the deputy that after hitting the pickup truck they both stopped and got out of their trucks. Burdick then punched the other man, according to the sheriff’s office.

“Burdick approached the tow truck driver and hit the tow truck driver the head with a closed fist,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. “Burdick continued to hit the tow truck driver while the tow truck driver was on the ground. The pickup driver then exited the scene without exchanging information with the tow truck driver.”

The sheriff’s office said the tow truck had a dashboard camera that captured the incident. Through the license plate number they identified Burdick, the sheriff’s office said.

The tow truck driver later identified Burdick in a photo lineup.