Witnesses rushing to help a woman being attacked by a man in a shopping center on Tuesday became the targets when a driver turned his car into a weapon against them, police said.
Witnesses and police said the man started acting erratically while arguing with his girlfriend Tuesday morning at a grocery store in Temecula.
"He was just yelling at her. Screaming at her," witness Amy Mining told NBC4.
Mining and other bystanders jumped in when they say the man grabbed his crying girlfriend and fought with her, wrestling her to the ground. Mining said she ran over to where the altercation was taking place to intervene.
"She was on the ground and he was over her and had his hands on her chest or neck," Mining said. "And at that point, I started grabbing her and pushing him off."
While some were trying to console the woman, cell phone video shows the man get into his car and speed toward the Good Samaritans. The crowd responded by trying to smash the man's windows to stop him, but he continued to drive aggressively -- backing the car up and driving forward repeatedly -- and appeared to hit a woman who had already fallen on the ground.
While the bystanders were unable to stop him, they did slow down the man enough so that police could catch up with him. The suspect, identified as 25-year-old Brian Ferrer, was arrested moments after the video was shot.
"This guy deserves to be put away," Mining said. "It's another life -- no one deserves to be treated that way."
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Ferrer was booked on suspicion of felony assault with a deadly weapon, the car, and felony corporal injury on a spouse/cohabitant. It was not immediately clear whether he has an attorney.
