SACRAMENTO, Calif. — A woman says she was intentionally rear-ended before being pepper-sprayed and robbed in South Sacramento.
The Sacramento Police Department arrested two people in connection to a robbery in the Florin Road area on March 11.
Hau Nguyen, 30, and Phung Nguyen, 35 were arrested on charges related to robbery, according to Officer Chad Lewis, a police spokesperson.
The victim was Nith Phouangkeo, 57, a businesswoman and an immigrant from Laos. She said she had just had lunch in a shopping center near 65th Street and Stockton Boulevard last Friday when the incident occurred.
She headed toward the Florin Road area when she was suddenly rear-ended by a following driver.
“Felt a little bump to the back of my car and that little bump just got my attention," Phouangkeo said.
Drivers in California are supposed to stop and exchange insurance information if they have been involved in a collision, and knowing this, she pulled over and got out. That's when the suspect in the following car approached and pepper-sprayed her in the face.
The suspects then went into Phouangkeo's car and took her $800 purse, which she said also held some cash, medicine and her keys.
Phouangkeo says she was followed and targeted because of her size. She also pointed to the concerning attacks happening on other Asian American communities.
She is encouraging those in the Asian American community to speak up and report all incidents so they do not become underreported.
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