South Bend woman records 'Big Lots' close-call altercation in parking lot
SOUTH BEND, Ind. —- Video captured on Tuesday by a South Bend woman shows an incident that the South Bend Police Department provided best practices to avoid.
On Tuesday, Ruth Fouce claimed her trip to Big Lots on Ireland Road ended with her being involved in a fight. She said you never know what situation you could walk into.
“I want in my van now,” Fouce can be heard saying in the video.
According to police, initially, officers were called for a vehicle crash. When officers arrived Fouce was in a verbal argument with a male driver. They were both involved in the crash.
The male reports Fouce said some obscenities which upset the male which led to the verbal argument. Fouce told police an unknown female took her phone and threw it during this argument.
However, police said no one else reported Fouce’s phone being thrown. But Fouce said she started recording the incident because it was turning into more than a verbal spat with the woman who allegedly threw her phone.
“She had struck my face it was a slight slap but just coming at me so I told her to stay off me,” said Fouce.
The department said when a person gets into a situation like this it’s important to do the following:
- Contact the police,
- Remove themselves from the potentially dangerous situation,
- Or if need be, defend themselves.
In the video, a woman did come to Fouce’s rescue telling her to get into her semi-cab. However, the passengers of that truck did not want to speak to the police.
Fouce said she has damage to her front bumper, a memorial sticker on her back windshield and even had to clean spit off her driver side window. She said she is angry because of this incident and plans to press charges.
“I’m a rebellious person, but that was not accounted for a simple parking lot accident,” said Fouce.
Fouce told police she had video of the incident. Police said when officers asked her to show the video, she told police the phone was broken and was not able to show it.
As of now, a department official does not believe any video had been shared with police.