A Rhode Island woman was dragged from her car and brutally beaten on the road by a group of about 10 ATV and dirt bike riders. The unnamed woman was travelling with her 8-year-old daughter and the entire episode was witnessed by the child, who was a mute spectator.
According to police, the woman was mercilessly beaten just for honking at the group of dirt-bike riders who were blocking the road. This enraged the group who stopped the car and then dragged her out and started beating her. The shocking video of the incident has since gone viral.
Brutal Attack
According to police, the 35-year-old woman enraged the riders after she honked at them as they were unlawfully blocking the road and wouldn't move at a green light around 11pm on Tuesday in Providence, Rhode Island. This happened at two green lights. At the next light, they group of dirt-bikers circled her car, compelling the woman to stop her car.
Several of the group then hopped off their bikes and opened the car door. The horrified woman tried to resist but they managed to drag her from her car and started beating her in the street as her daughter watched on, WLNE said, citing a police report.
A cell phone video obtained by the outlet shows the helpless woman on her knees in the middle of the road and sustaining a barrage of punches. The video also shows the woman, wearing blue shorts, surrounded by the attackers, and during the confrontation appears to almost lose her top. She also lost a shoe while struggling to ward off the attackers, who fling her on the ground.
She was then left in the street, according to the police report obtained by the Boston Globe, and the attackers fled the scene.
Almost Dead
It isn't immediately known how severe her injuries were, but police said that the inhuman behavior could have cost the woman her life. Providence Mayor Jorge Elorza damned the incident calling it an "an awful incident."
Councilman David Salvatore also condemned the attack, telling WLNE, "A woman driving in her car with her infant child should not have to fear being a victim of brutal physical violence."
Police on Thursday arrested a 24-year-old woman, Shyanne Boisvert, and charged her with assault and disorderly conduct in connection to the attack, WPRI said. No one else from the group has been arrested yet.
That said, Boisvert is a known offender and was arrested in January in Cranston, Rhode Island, where she was allegedly part of a group of riders who beat up a Cranston police officer. The officer was pushed, surrounded and run over while responding to "dozens of recklessly driven motorcycles and ATVs," The Globe reported.
She was sentenced to one year of probation and 20 hours of community service in that case, the reports said. The victim's name wasn't released, and she didn't go to the hospital, according to The Globe.
