Carmichael woman who fled with deputy hanging onto car speaks out in jailhouse interview

Brittney Nicholls, the Carmichael woman arrested over the weekend after allegedly fleeing the scene of a traffic stop in her Mercedes while a sheriff’s deputy tried to hang on, explained her side of the story in a jailhouse interview with a local television news station.

SACRAMENTO BEE: Carmichael woman arrested after driving away from traffic stop with deputy hanging on

The 26-year-old was arrested Saturday after allegedly fleeing the scene of a Fair Oaks traffic stop in her Mercedes. She was identified after her driver’s license was left at the scene near Winding Oak and Long Canyon drives.

"I didn't want to go to jail. I didn't want to lose my car. I just started my life over. I have nothing,” Nicholls told Fox40 from the Sacramento County Jail.

The traffic stop occurred just before 3:30 a.m. Saturday when the sheriff’s deputy spotted a man who appeared to be running away from a Mercedes with paper license plates. The deputy told dispatchers what he had seen and then pulled over the Mercedes. The man on foot also stopped.

A Sacramento County Sheriff’s deputy made contact with the man, then approached Nicholls, the driver of the Mercedes. He asked for her license and paperwork and told her to step out of the car, which she did.

“The female then quickly jumped back into the car. The deputy attempted to detain the female from inside the car, when she quickly put the car in drive and accelerated while the deputy was hanging on,” according to a Sheriff’s Department news release.

“The deputy unholstered his firearm, and in the process of disengaging from the speeding car, discharged his firearm at the suspect,” the release stated.

Nobody was hit by the gunfire, according to the Sheriff’s Department, although Nicholls told Fox40 that said she was almost shot..

"It was right by my head,” Nicholls said of a round that shattered her rear window, traveled through the car and damaged her front window as well.

Nicholls was booked at the Sacramento County Main Jail on suspicion of resisting arrest, assault with a deadly weapon and violating probation. She is being held on $140,000 bail and faces arraignment on Tuesday.

The 13-year-veteran deputy is now on administrative leave.

This story was originally published October 24, 2016 at 10:59 AM with the headline "Carmichael woman who fled with deputy hanging onto car speaks out in jailhouse interview."