The criminal pulls his car off the road so that a tree or bush can clearly be seen brushing up against the driver's door and preventing the door from closing when the criminal gets out. After putting John Colter in the trunk, he goes back to open that side door and the bush is nowhere to be seen.
When "the criminal" runs Coulter off the road, he initially appears to be passing his car, but Coulter is actually the first one to veer sharply off the road to the right. Then the criminal pulled off to the right also. It all happened very quickly, but was clearly backwards.
FWIW, Just before John Colter is run off the road by his abductor, both John and his abductor run a stop sign. Right after the stop sign is when the abductor cuts over and forces John to the side of the road.