Man Beaten During Road Rage Incident Outside Salem Market Basket

A Salem man was reportedly beaten in front of his wife and baby Sunday afternoon following an alleged road rage incident in the Market Basket parking lot.

At 4:15 p.m., a man called the Salem Police Department to report that he had just returned home from the Highland Avenue market and wanted to report being beaten by four other men.

The man told police that he was pulling into the parking lot with his wife and their baby when a white sedan backing out of a nearby parking space nearly struck his car.

When he yelled out of his window to tell the other driver to be more careful, the man said the sedan stopped and one of the occupants slammed a car door into the driver's side of his vehicle and then things "got out of control," according to a police log entry.

The man told police he was jumped and beaten by the four occupants of the other vehicle and was "hit and punched numerous times in the face and head."

When the man's wife, a Market Basket employee and several other shoppers jumped into the fracas to stop the fight, the man said the four assailants jumped back into the sedan and left the area before he could get a good look at the vehicle's license plate.

The alleged victim was reportedly able to provide police investigators with a partial license plate number and a basic description of three of the four men involved in the incident, according to police.

Officers who spoke with the alleged victim at his home Sunday evening noted finding a "deep perpendicular dent" behind the rear driver's side door of his vehicle.

The man was reportedly advised to go to the hospital to have his injuries looked at.

It is unclear whether the incident was caught by any of the parking lot's surveillance cameras, Sgt. Andrew Dacy said Monday night.

Salem Patch will post additional information as it becomes available.