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Man breaks ankle in alleged ‘ski rage’ attack

Police are recommending charges for 43-year-old Denver man
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Snowboarder Joe Armstrong didn't think much of a minor collision he had with a skier on Whistler Mountain earlier this month as he was coming out of the terrain park.

"I thought nothing of it," said Armstrong of being hit by the teen skier, who was knocked down in the crash. "It's just one of those things that happens on the hill."

But the father of the skier who clipped the back of Armstrong's board had a different view of the situation.

"About two minutes later, out of nowhere, I got barged off the cat track," Armstrong recalled.

"I looked up to see if the guy that had crashed into me was OK and what was going on. As I looked up, he was coming towards me on his skis."

Armstrong said the Colorado man charged at him, screaming, "You hit my f---ing daughter!" The man's skis then slipped under the snowboarder's right leg before he "jumped his body weight onto me with his knees," breaking Armstrong's ankle.

"His knees actually were on top of my right leg, and it bent my leg over while my foot was still in my snowboard bindings," Armstrong claimed.

"While he was on top of me, I was going, 'Get off my leg! My leg! My leg! My leg!' That's all I managed to say."

Armstrong, a native of England, said he was shocked at how quickly the incident escalated to violence.

"In the time it took him to chase me down, I personally don't think he would've had any time to actually stop and see if his daughter was OK, so I think he must've just seen the incident and just saw red, like road rage," he noted.

Now, his first Whistler winter put on hold, Armstrong plans to seek compensation to help cover his medical costs and lost wages.

"Basically, I came over here to ride snowboards, which I can't do anymore. So pretty much my whole winter is gone," he added.

"I don't want to ruin the guy's life and send him to jail or anything, but some community service or maybe an anger management course would probably be the best thing for him."

Although the investigation is still ongoing, Whistler RCMP did confirm that a 43-year-old Denver man was arrested in connection with the Dec. 14 incident near the Enchanted Forest. Police have recommended charges to Crown counsel, but are still looking for anyone who may have witnessed the incident to contact the detachment at 604-933-3044.

"Ski rage," as it's been dubbed, has been observed at resorts across the world.

Last year, video footage of another skier attacking a snowboarder at Whistler Blackcomb went viral.

On Valentine's Day 2016, a New Jersey anesthesiologist was arrested after punching a 12-year-old boy stemming from a collision on the slopes at Mountain Creek ski resort in Vernon, NJ. The boy was visibly injured when officers arrived on the scene.

The attacker's attorney told the press his client "had no intention of causing any harm to this young man. It was more in the nature of an accident."