Screaming woman in shackles flees FBI into crowd of protesters, California video shows

An unmarked car sat outside a closed gate at a San Diego jail Saturday as bystanders from a nearby protest wondered what was going on, a video posted to Twitter shows.

“Did they kidnap someone?” a bystander asked. Then one of the car’s back doors burst open and a woman in shackles leaped out, the video shows.

The woman dashed across the street past the confused bystanders before two undercover FBI agents emerged from the car to give chase.

“Help her! Help her!” a man shouted as the woman bolted into a crowd of nearby protesters.

The pursuing FBI agents tried to detain the woman, who fell to the pavement screaming, as protesters tried to intervene, the chaotic video shows.

The woman suffered a seizure and the FBI agents backed off as a protest medic treated her while protesters surrounded her, a City News Service report on KSWB says.

The agents later returned with an ambulance and additional police to detain the woman, who was taken to a hospital, the FBI said in a press release.

The woman had initially been arrested by the San Diego Sheriff’s Department on a warrant of felony charges including conspiracy to distribute methamphetamine, heroin and fentanyl, the FBI said.

She was turned over to the undercover FBI agents as part of an investigation into a 2019 federal gang and narcotics case, the press release says.

The agents were trying to drop her off at the Western Region Detention Center on West C Street, where an unrelated protest against police brutality was taking place, the FBI said.

The agency has opened an investigation into the incident.

This story was originally published September 8, 2020 at 10:01 AM with the headline "Screaming woman in shackles flees FBI into crowd of protesters, California video shows."