UPDATE: Police release video of assault

Taylor McFadden, Alexandra DeRusso and Tatum Bohanon were in the parking lot of the Deptford Mall Friday night.

Little did they know they would be injured in an attack by two women - all over a parking spot. All three victims went to Jefferson Hospital in Washington Township to be evaluated afterward. McFadden said she suffered a concussion and a cervical sprain in her neck. She said Bohanon sustained a concussion, cervical sprain and bruised ribs, while DeRusso had a concussion and two black eyes.

McFadden, 18, said it began while she was sitting in her car parked near the mall’s main entrance while two friends, both 19, stood near the passenger side.

“I noticed the car had pulled up behind me,” McFadden said. “I had told my friend to wait because I was not pulling out yet because I wanted to sit and wait. Another car, about three cars out from me, was pulling out, and some people backed into that spot and got out of the car and came walking past my car.”

McFadden said the four people - two men and two women - were mumbling something as they walked past. She said she didn’t think they were talking to them. McFadden said as one of her friends leaned into the car to say something to her, one of the women turned and began yelling at them.

“She said, ‘I hope you are not talking to us,'” McFadden said. “They turned around and came walking toward us. My friend came around and said ‘Listen, ma’am, you guys are older than us.’”

That’s when things became physical, McFadden said, saying one woman smacked one of her friends while the other grabbed her other friend, throwing her into the front of McFadden’s car and punching her.

“Both of my friends were on the ground at this point, getting punched,” said McFadden. “I jumped out of the passenger side and I grabbed my phone so that I could call the police. People started coming over, but I think a lot of people were scared to get involved.”

McFadden said she told the two women to stop hitting her friends and dialed 9-1-1.

“While I am on the phone with the police, I tried to get my one friend away from them,” McFadden recalled. “The shorter woman turned around and grabbed my face and pushed my head back and my neck bent, and someone punched me on the right side of my face.”

The women also allegedly shouted racial epithets toward the McFadden and her friends.

“I was on the phone with the police at the time and I just started reading the license plate over and over to the dispatcher because I knew they were going to try to leave," McFadden said. “They got in their car, and they were screaming ‘you dumb white bi***es. You are too comfortable.’ They just kept reiterating that we were white and too comfortable, and we were stupid white girls and all this stuff.”

DeRusso and Bohanon are white; McFadden is half-white and half African-American.

“The one woman turned to me and said she was not talking to me,” McFadden said. “I didn’t know what to say because I was on the phone with the police. They tried to hit me with their car and drove off.”

McFadden said she and her friends were screaming for mall security, and one of her friends ran into the mall to find a security guard. The attack lasted about three minutes, but to McFadden, it felt as if it continued for 10 or 15 minutes.

“Honestly, I was in shock. Right now, I am in shock. At the time, it didn’t make sense for people to be jumping us over a parking spot. I was in disbelief that it was happening.”

Deptford Police Captain Kevin Pancoast confirmed to NJ Advance Media an incident did take place at the Deptford Mall and is under investigation. There is no word yet on if those involved have been located.

In a police report obtained by NJ Advance Media, the vehicle the four people were in was identified as a white Pontiac. A police officer assigned to the case also viewed security camera footage, according to the report.

As of Monday evening, Deptford Mall management did not respond to a request for comment.