ATLANTA — The violent attack on a woman's car while she was trying to do her job was caught on camera. She was attacked while trying to make her way through an Atlanta intersection where dozens of people were gathered for a car meetup.
Luckily, she isn't hurt but now has no way to make money, because she used the vehicle as an Uber driver. She spoke to 11Alive in an exclusive interview.
“My adrenaline was up," Kiana Lynn said. "It felt like my mind went blank for a second. I know it was over 50 kids blocking all four intersections where I was when I pulled up.”
Lynn found herself in the middle of a mob along Metropolitan Boulevard, near Adair Park in Atlanta, late Sunday evening.
“I’m trying to tell them to get off my car, and they were already banging on it, sitting on the front, sitting on the back," Lynn said.
The Atlanta Scoop captured the frightening incident on video. Lynn said she considered backing up, but the mob had her car surrounded.
“Somebody was trying to open up my side door, so I was like, let me try to find a pepper spray or something," Lynn said. "I could feel three on my back literally hoping up and down on my trunk. By the time that happened, I heard a smash. The cars that were doing the donuts in the middle, they scattered. Everybody just took off in all directions.”
“It was a violent assault on the automobile," Page Pate said.
11Alive legal analyst Page Pate has advice if you find yourself in a similar situation.
“Stop your vehicle until it's safe to proceed, and if it's not safe to proceed, call 911," Pate said. "If you try to drive quickly to get out of the situation, you could run someone over and even though you may feel completely justified in doing that, there's probably not going to be a clear case that it was self defense. You could run the risk of being prosecuted yourself and obviously killing or injuring someone who gets run over."
Atlanta Police haven't made any arrests.
Pate said everybody in the crowd could be charged with obstructing the highway, which is a misdemeanor, and those who approached the car in a threatening way could face terroristic threat charges.
“Now, for the individual who actually kicked in the windshield, that's a totally different situation. I think you have a potential assault case there because that I think kick certainly put the driver in fear for her safety," Pate said. "It's also criminal damage to property."
The car was a rental. Lynn is an Uber driver and was using it at the time of the attack to try and save up money to buy a car.
“Because it’s the holidays, everybody has rentals, so there’s no cars available right now," Lynn said.
Now she's left without a way to make money for now with images of the violent attack in her mind. Her husband's truck just broke down, so the couple has no vehicle.
“I was more upset and how dumb this was," Lynn said. "You all are going to end up getting a charge over something so stupid. I just saw a bunch of kids being reckless and dangerous for absolutely no reason.”