Samantha Baez-Vargas says a routine early-morning drive through South Los Angeles turned into a nightmare when a confrontation over right-of-way on a narrow street erupted into a crowbar attack that left her bitten and hospitalized. The attack happened around 4 a.m. Saturday near 111th Street and Raymond Avenue, in a stretch of road too tight for two cars to pass each other.
According to Baez-Vargas, the trouble started when another driver came down the one-way street going the wrong direction, then refused to budge. As reported by FOX 11, she said the confrontation began when the two cars could not get past each other on the narrow street, and the other driver demanded that she back up instead.
What happened next, Baez-Vargas said, escalated far beyond a typical traffic standoff. The other driver allegedly grabbed a crowbar and began smashing her car, shattering the headlights, windshield and driver's-side window.
Beaten and Bitten After Stepping Out of Her Car
Baez-Vargas said she was shocked and did not know how to react or defend herself once she got out of the vehicle. The attacker allegedly swung the crowbar at her and bit her multiple times during the struggle, the outlet's report states.
“She smacked me in the head with the crowbar at that point, and she snatched my phone out of my hand,” Baez-Vargas said, describing the moment the attacker struck her and then took her phone. She was later hospitalized, and the ordeal left her shaken in its aftermath. “After the fact, I was in the hospital. I felt like I could have lost my life,” she said.
Family Pushes for an Arrest
Baez-Vargas's mother, Elizabeth Vargas, has since called for swift action from authorities and for the public's help tracking down the suspect. She said authorities should do their job and that the suspect should not remain free, according to the same account.
Footage of the confrontation was turned over to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department, and social media users have since circulated what they claim is the attacker's identity.
Sheriff's Department Says Suspect Identified, Still at Large
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department said detectives have identified the suspect but have not yet located or apprehended her. The department said in its statement that detectives are currently working to locate and apprehend her, and it is asking anyone with information about her whereabouts to come forward.
No further details on the suspect's identity, or on any arrest, have been released. The case remains an open investigation as Baez-Vargas and her family wait for word that the woman they say attacked her will be taken into custody.
The case comes amid other highly publicized road-rage attacks in Southern California, though those incidents are separate and do not establish a connection to this investigation. Nathaniel Radimak was convicted after a series of attacks on motorists in the region; in May 2026, he was sentenced in Hawaii to seven years in prison after pleading no contest to assaulting two women there. The separate case drew renewed attention to victims’ concerns about accountability after earlier attacks.
