CRIME
Woman arrested in road rage incident that went viral
Police charged a 31-year-old woman after a video posted online showed her bashing a truck
An Albuquerque woman has been arrested after a video went viral that allegedly showed her hitting a truck with a baseball bat.
Jenipher Lewis, 31, is charged with child abuse, driving with a suspended license and reckless driving. She was arrested Thursday.
The incident occurred around 8:45 a.m. Monday near Constitution and Wyoming NE, according to a news release from Albuquerque Police Department spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos.
In the video posted Tuesday, a woman can be seen walking outside of her red car and swinging a baseball bat into a white truck stopped next to her. The woman gets into her car and drives away when the driver of the truck follows and crashes into her vehicle, shattering the woman鈥檚 back window.
Lewis鈥 two children, ages 4 and 8, were in the vehicle, police said.
鈥淭he white truck pushed the Nissan into northbound lanes of Wyoming,鈥 Gallegos said. 鈥淏oth vehicles fled the scene after the crash.鈥
The driver of the truck has not yet been identified, and the vehicle did not appear to have a license plate, Gallegos said. He did not say if the man would be charged in the case once he is identified.
Police contacted the owner of the car Lewis was driving, who said she let Lewis borrow the vehicle, according to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court.
Lewis contacted the police and told them she was taking her children to school when the truck pulled out in front of her and caused her to swerve, the complaint states.
She told officers that she was 鈥渉ighly upset at this point鈥 and pulled up next to the truck to yell at the driver, according to the complaint. She said the man laughed at her and asked what she was going to do about it.
Lewis told police she grabbed the baseball bat to protect herself and her children, though she said she knew it was not the right thing to do, the complaint states. She told police her children were not injured in the crash.
Nakayla McClelland covers crime and breaking news. Reach her at nmcclelland@abqjournal.com or at 505-823-3857.