LEAVENWORTH COUNTY, Kan. -- The victim of a road-rage incident is alive thanks to a complete stranger, the man's family said.

The man said the incident happened on a two-lane country road in the late afternoon.

McIntyre Road is a stretch of gravel between Kansas highways 7 and 10 in Leavenworth County. That peacefulness was interrupted by a case of road rage, law enforcement officials said.

"The guy works every day," a neighbor said. "He goes to work and comes home and get beat up. What kind of deal is that? For driving too slow? That's pitiful."

The man's neighbor did not want to be identified, fearing for his own safety after he said his 51-year-old neighbor was the victim of a road-rage attack late last week.

"It's a bad thing," he said. "I can't understand anybody doing that. I don't know what was on that guy's mind or what he was trying to do."

Police said the driver grew angry with the victim for going too slow on K-5 and stuck behind him when he turned onto the gravel road coming home from work. The Leavenworth County Sheriff's Department said that when the victim stopped, the other driver got out and started swinging. The victim received cuts and bruises on his face, hands and knees.

"A lady, coming the opposite direction, I guess, saved him from a worse beating," the neighbor said.

The driver left the scene when the woman approached.

Officers said the man is in his 20s and driving a gray or silver 2001 Dodge Avenger with no front license plate.