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Fender bender ends in brawl at California parking lot, woman arrested tells her side

Posted at 7:13 PM, Apr 05, 2017
and last updated 2017-04-06 01:03:30-04

Editor's note: Some of the footage in this report may be graphic to some viewers.

STOCKTON, Calif. -- A fender bender in a California thrift store parking lot led to a violent brawl between two women that was caught on camera.

"You'll see the huge bump on her head," witness Bernardo Gonzalez said.

In the video a woman in a black sweatshirt swings at another woman in a green top. Then, it appears that she grabs her by the ponytail and yanks her to the ground. The woman in green is then seen on the ground with her arm bent in the wrong direction.

"I pushed her. And it was an accident," the younger woman in the video, Vanessa Ortiz, told KTXL from behind bars. "And my apologies to her and her family, whatever."

Ortiz, 25, is now in the San Joaquin County Jail for felony battery. Police are not identifying the other woman in the video, but say she is 67 years old.

"She's not your average old lady, she's like a spicy old lady. As you can see I have scratches on my face, she snatched my glasses off," Ortiz said.

Some witnesses say the four-decade age difference between these two women doesn't paint the full picture. Gonzalez agreed, saying the older woman was the aggressor.

"The old lady was instigating, (she) was like, 'I already exchanged info with you, what more do you want?' And the old lady started getting all in her face and got aggressive with her," Gonzalez told KTXL.

Gonzalez also said the beginning of his video shows the older woman putting her hands up first.

Ortiz said she wondered how she was supposed to walk away from a woman who slapped her hand and scratched her face.

Ortiz is ineligible for bail. Her jail log shows she also had an arrest warrant out for failure to appear on a misdemeanor charge of loitering with intent of prostitution.

She says she was recently trying to re-build her life.

"I don't have any violent crimes on my record," she said. "Like I said, I have prostitution, but no one's denying nothing."