Video taken by a bystander in Temecula shows a man using his car to try to run down his girlfriend and good Samaritans who had come to her aid after the man physically abused her in a grocery store parking lot, according to media reports.
Good Samaritans rushing to help a woman being attacked by a man in a shopping center on Tuesday became the targets when the man turned his car into a weapon against them, police said.
According to KCBS-TV, the frantic scene played out in a Food 4 Less parking lot on Ynez Road about 10 a.m. Tuesday after the man wrestled his girlfriend to the ground as horrified shoppers looked on.
“She was on the ground and he was over her and had his hands on her chest or neck,” witness Amy Mining told KNBC-TV. “He was just yelling at her. Screaming at her.”
When Mining and others stepped in to help the woman, the man jumped into his car, media outlets reported. In a video obtained by KCBS, a man is seen putting a vehicle into reverse as bystanders are leaning over to help the woman.
He then then throws the car into drive and accelerates toward the group, nearly running them over.
A small group of witnesses then swarm the car, smashing their hands and stomping their feet on the windows, trying to break them. A woman who fell down behind the car is hit when the driver reverses the vehicle a second time, the video shows.
Authorities said the driver raced off but was quickly arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon by Riverside County Sheriff’s Department deputies. He was identified as 25-year-old Brian Ferrer, KABC-TV reported.
