x
Breaking News
More () »

Watch: Traffic crash, attack of teen, caught on surveillance video

17-year-old Claire Norton told ABC10 she was attacked by another driver when she got out of her car to assess the damage after her car was rear-ended.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A 17-year-old girl says she was attacked following a road rage incident Monday night in the Colonial Heights area. Claire Norton says she was in the car with a friend when the car in front of them slammed on the breaks. Norton said this caused her and the car behind her to do the same. 

But soon after, Norton said the car behind her began following closely and would not leave her alone — despite repeated attempts to shake it. Then, the situation escalated. 

When she stopped at a red light at the intersection of 21st Avenue and Stockton Boulevard, the car behind her hit the rear end of her car. Norton said she was attacked when she got out of her car to check the damage. 

According to the 17-year-old, the driver of the other car grabbed her by the hair, pulled her to the ground and repeatedly hit her.

"It was obviously very scary but it was more of just, how am I going to get out of this situation," explained Norton, "Because I don't want to get hurt. But it was definitely like an adrenaline rushing fear type of thing."

The whole thing was caught by the surveillance cameras at Capital City Used Auto Sales, which sits at the corner of the intersection. Lukas Brown is the office manager. 

"They were sitting right here," Brown said, point to the area. "Someone just came up from behind and it wasn't even that hard...then things escalated and they got a little bit loud and the next thing you know they're rolling on the ground."

Norton said she doesn't remember much because adrenaline took over. She credits her involvement in sports with her ability to defend herself.

"It kind of caused a scene," said Brown. "Some of these people started pulling around to see kind of why there was people rolling around on the ground and so people came in to help luckily and broke it up and kind of separated them."

Todd and Gerald Schaefer are being credited with coming in to break up the incident. 

"She had the girl (Norton) by the hair and was holding her down with her left hand and was hitting her with her right hand and the girl (Norton) was reaching up trying to get her hair to pull her down with her," said Schaefer. "But she couldn't and I just grabbed her right hand and pulled her to the side and then my son intervened and I got her left hand and I just spread her out with her arms up."

Schaefer said he stepped in because, despite the crowd, no one was stepping in to help. He said everyone was standing around watching or recording it on their phones. 

"If everyone would have stood there and let that girl do it, yeah she was losing," said Schaefer. "It would have went [sic] bad."

Norton said she's just thankful that good Samaritans stepped in to help.

________________________________________________________________

WATCH MORE: Surveillance cams catch road rage in Sacramento | FULL VIDEO

A 17-year-old girl says she was the victim of a road rage incident on 21st Avenue in Sacramento. She says the driver of the other car grabbed her by the hair, pulled her to the ground and attempted to strike her repeatedly. The entire incident was caught on surveillance video cameras at a nearby business.

Before You Leave, Check This Out