NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — Norfolk police say a Portsmouth woman has been charged after a man was seriously injured Thursday afternoon in a domestic-related assault at the Janaf Shopping Center.
Police say Bashirah S. Tripp, 34, was taken into custody at the scene after hitting the man with her vehicle. She was charged with aggravated assault. Police say Tripp is being held at the Norfolk City Jail with bond denied.
The incident happened around 3:45 p.m. in the 5900 block of E. Virginia Beach Boulevard. The man was taken to the hospital with life-threatening injuries and was in critical condition as of Friday morning, police say.
Several videos circulating widely on social media show a man lying motionless on the ground at the rear end of a car. The car appeared to have also crashed into another vehicle at a shopping center.
A woman can be seen walking around the scene near the man and the vehicle. At times, she approaches him while he’s on the ground and yells at him.
Police didn’t release additional details about the case in a press release Friday, but witnesses who spoke with 10 On Your Side on Friday said they’re still in disbelief about what happened.
“It was a horrible, horrible thing to see. I’ve never seen anything like that,” said one woman, who did not want to be identified.
The woman was inside at the shopping center and says she heard an engine rev, which is a typical sound heard at the center.
“I heard the vroom of the engine, then the crunches,” she said.
The woman says at first she thought it was an accident when she looked out the window and saw a body lying in the road.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I was mortified because I thought a man had been run over. When I saw the woman throw the bumper on top of his body, that wasn’t moving, face down and bleeding profusely, I knew something else was going on. I can’t assume it was an accident.”
Other witnesses, like Kayla Schweers, say they saw Tripp and the man arguing before the incident.
Schweers works at a dental office in the center and says she was outside greeting patients when it all took place.
“They were arguing. The lady speeds off. She comes back and targets — what I believe to be is her husband — hits him and he falls. He goes up in the air and falls to the ground,” she said.
Schweers says before the man was struck by a car, he was standing on the sidewalk.
“He was standing something like this,” she said, standing against a column to demonstrate. “And looked like he was trying to avoid it. And, then she hit him. It looked like she was trying to smash him on this.”
Schweers says she called 911 and went over to help.
Her coworkers placed a sheet over the man because there were so many people, including children, at the scene and some were recording the incident.
“Personally, I think the Facebook Live recording was inappropriate. It was not good at all. I wouldn’t want my body or any persons to be on Facebook Live,” Schweers said.
