“Viral” Bat Smashing Road Rager Arrested by APD, Not Her First Rodeo

Albuquerque –

A video clip of a woman getting out of a vehicle and smashing a back window of a pickup truck caught the attention of the Albuquerque Police Department after it went viral on social media. APD has arrested 31-year-old Jenipher Lewis of Albuquerque on 2 counts of child abuse (no death), driving on a suspended license, and reckless driving.

The video shows two vehicles confront each other at an intersection when Lewis hops out of the car with an aluminum baseball bat and bashes the back window of a white truck. She gets back into the car and she drives off. The driver of the pickup truck who seems to be a man in his 60s sits at the intersection for a moment, but at some point rage sweeps over him and he accelerates toward Lewis’ vehicle. He rear ends her and performs a non-authorized PIT maneuver on her car.

According to the criminal complaint, the Albuquerque Police Department started investigating the road rage with Lewis’ car license plate as a key part of evidence. APD ran the plate and it came back to a family member of Lewis’ as the registered owner of the vehicle. The family member notified the detective that Lewis was the driver.

APD got in contact with Lewis and wanted to speak with her in person but she declined. Lewis wanted the interview over the phone most likely because she feared being arrested on the spot. She told officers the white truck had pulled out in front of her. She was upset and pulled next to the pickup. Lewis admitted to having her two children in the vehicle. She stated she saw “red” after she used the baseball bat to smash the window. She admitted that she had done wrong.

Police asked if she stopped after the crash to have medical check out her children. She said no. She did however say she pulled over and hugged them. She then dropped them off at school.

Police did a welfare check on the two children. Her 8-years-old was interviewed at the school and remembered the crash with their head hitting up against the car seat when it occurred. The child said he felt “safe.”

The 4-year-old did not recall any events and appeared fine.

The driver of the white truck did not have a license plate affixed to his bumper and APD has not located the driver of the truck. Thus, making this case a perfect case of no victim, no crime for any kind of assault with a deadly weapon charge against anyone.

Lewis did have a previous road rage case last year that an APD officer witnessed. Lewis admitted to the officer she spit on a driver’s car and the other driver spit back. Both were criminally summonsed. The case was dismissed.