Kent State professor defends alleged road rage caught on video

KENT, Ohio -- The professor caught on video shouting profanity at a driver on the Kent State University campus says he was was protecting a student pedestrian against a man who was texting while driving.

Assistant Professor Linden Adkins of Kent State University was left injured and facing charges after police responded to an incident near the campus' recreation center, ABC News reports.

A witness uploaded a video to Twitter (WARNING: PROFANE LANGUAGE) showing Adkins standing at a crosswalk and screaming into the driver's side window of a minivan.

"What kind of a moron are you?" Adkins yells, followed by a spout of profanity.

The video shows Adkins appearing to try to grab a wiper blade on the minivan, then captures the van starting to move forward and Adkins falling to the ground. The vehicle stops and Adkins groans in pain.

Adkins told ABC News that he was in his car when he saw another driver with his left hand on the wheel and his right hand holding a cell phone. He said the other driver -- who has not been identified or charged, according to the university -- was looking down and texting.

"As with all of those kinds of cell phone videos, they only captured a small portion of it. They missed the three minutes ahead of that," Adkins said.

Adkins told ABC News that the driver "completely ran the stop sign" and that he had to swerve to avoid hitting him.

"The part that really angered me was that a student was crossing the street and she had to leap backwards to get back on the sidewalk -- and he didn't even see that," Adkins added. "I got out of my car and I went to him. ... He didn't even see me coming towards him."

"Then you heard all the things I said ... and I swore," Adkins said. "I didn't threaten him, I didn't do anything physical to him. ... I just made it very clear that what he did was really stupid."

The summons issued to Adkins said he "did knowingly cause another to believe he would cause physical harm."

Adkins admitted he may have inadvertently leaned on the windshield wiper so he could see the minivan driver through the front windshield, as the side window was tinted. As the minivan moved, he said, the van's mirror knocked him down and dragged him.

Adkins is an assistant professor at Kent State's College of Applied Engineering, Sustainability and Technology. He was charged with menacing, though the case is still open as university officials do not know how the confrontation started, a spokeswoman for Kent State told ABC News.

Adkins, who confirmed the charge, said he does not have a lawyer.