Suspect Arrested In Brazen Richmond McDonald's Drive-Thru Assault
RICHMOND (CBS SF) -- A Bay Point woman wanted in a shocking road rage assault of a mother who was in her car with her children in a Richmond McDonald's drive-thru has surrendered to police.
After being the focus an intense police search for nearly a month, 29-year-old Rhyan Hodge surrendered to Richmond Police without incident on Tuesday.
She was being held on two counts of felony assault with a deadly weapon, two counts of misdemeanor child endangerment, one felony count of assault likely to cause great bodily injury and one felony count of leaving the scene of an accident.
The incident was captured on cell phone video and Hodge's image was widely broadcast on local media.
The attack happened on Saturday, February 5th, around 12:15 p.m., at the McDonald's located at 2301 MacDonald Avenue in Richmond. It began after a woman in a vehicle accused a mother with her two young sons in tow of cutting in front of her in the drive-thru line.
The victim, who asked KPIX 5 to refer to her as "Amaro," said the incident traumatized her family.
"I was terrified," she said. "I just felt like I couldn't move. I had my children in the car with me. I couldn't do anything."
Amaro said the situation quickly escalated within a minute or two. The woman first started screaming expletives at her, then jumped out of her vehicle and started hurling water bottles at her car. She then got back in the vehicle and rammed Amaro's car.
"My sons have nightmares," Amaro said. "I didn't say anything to her, I didn't look at her. So, it was just kind of like, why did she attack us?"
The situation escalated further after the woman rammed the car. Amaro jumped out of the car, and according to her and Richmond police detectives, the woman drove at the victim.
"I told her, 'Stop, you can't go anywhere,' and that's when she went straight at me," said Amaro. "I was able to hold onto the hood of her car and my legs were dangling off the vehicle, I was holding on, and she just took me out of the parking lot ... It was terrifying. I still get really shaken up by the events that happened, and the trauma that my kids and myself had to go through."
As her children watched from the car, the attacker drove Amaro out of the parking lot, then stopped, got out of the car and punched Amaro several times before driving away, according to police.
"She needs to be found," Amaro said. "It really impacted and traumatized our family."
Anyone with information on the incident was asked to contact Detective O. Guzman with the Richmond Police Department at OGuzman@RichmondPD.net or 510-672-2493.