car crash

Caught on Camera: Parking Lot Argument Escalates to Wild Demolition Derby

"I was on the ground thinking, 'Is this really happening? I'm being stomped by grown women right now,'" one of the drivers recalled

An argument between two drivers in a South Los Angeles parking lot escalated into a fistfight and then a demolition derby-style clash caught on camera.

The confrontation took place in the parking lot of Jacobs Mini Market and Laundromat on Sunday afternoon.

One of the women in the cellphone video, Yaya Shabazz, shared her side of the story with NBC4. She claims the incident started on Western Avenue when the driver of the other SUV accused Shabazz of cutting her off, then hit her with her SUV.

Shabazz thought they were pulling over to exchange insurance information, but it turned into a fight. The video shows Shabazz on the ground being kicked and punched by another woman.

"I was on the ground thinking, 'Is this really happening? I'm being stomped by grown women right now,' and it was devastation and heart breaking because we shouldn't be doing each other like that," Shabazz said.

The 33-year-old from Atlanta says she was on her way to visit her brother in South LA.

"She run up on my car and snatched my door open and I threw my hands up in the air like, I don't know what's going on, I don't know you girls," Shabazz said. "She said, 'You cut me off.' I said, 'I didn't, but I'm sorry.' I didn't cut them off."

Jasmin Tellez was inside the market at the time and witnessed the fight.

"I come out and the girl's on the floor, some guy is trying to stop it, but there wasn't much that could be stopped," Tellez said.

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Shabazz said the woman was armed with a hammer.

"She hits the door, then she runs to the back and hits the window," Shabazz said. "But while it's happening to me I'm not knowing it's a hammer, I'm just hearing noise like a big shatter and I jump in my car and start to drive."

That's when a demolition derby starts, with the women ramming their cars into one another's.

"I wasn't trying to hurt anyone. I was just trying to get away," Shabazz said. "I hear a loud noise. I think it's a gun, they're saying they're going to hurt me and I'm just trying to get away."

It ended with Shabazz running into a fire hydrant.

"I was scared," said another witness, Theron Ponds. "I wanted to record but I was too caught up in the moment and when the lady hit the fire hydrant, we were standing about right here and I wanted to back up and run because I didn't know if she was going to lose control."

Shabazz says she apologizes for her behavior and claims she was afraid for her life.

Although Shabazz said she didn't know the other woman, police later told NBC4 that they have some sort of history together but could not say how, saying it was part of the investigation.

The Los Angeles Police Department says both women could face charges of assault with a deadly weapon.

Hetty Chang contributed to this report.

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