California woman Brittney Nicholls arrested for fleeing accident with police officer hanging off of car

A California woman was arrested Saturday after fleeing the scene of a Fair Oaks (near Sacramento) traffic stop in her Mercedes while a Sacramento County sheriff’s deputy tried to hang on to her through a car window. Identified as Brittney Nicholls was booked on resisting arrest, assault with a deadly weapon and violating probation.

Brittney Nicholls

Nicholls, 26, of Carmichael, left an accident scene near Winding Oak and Long Canyon drives. Sheriff’s Major Crimes Bureau found Nicholls Saturday morning at a home on Greenback Lane, about 7 miles away from the traffic stop.

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.

The 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.

As the female driver and an unidentified female passenger sped away, the man ran away.

Nicholls was booked at the Sacramento County Main Jail, being held on $140,000 bail and faces arraignment on Tuesday.