SAGINAW, MI -- It was meant to be a night of fun but ended with a blood-soaked child, a frantic dash to escape in the family minivan and charges against a Saginaw mother.

Jennie Lindauer and her daughter, Ariella.

Jennie Lindauer, 33, said she, her daughters and some friends were at a skating rink in Saginaw Township Sunday, Dec. 20. She said they left to go to a restaurant because a group of girls at the rink were "talking stuff."

Before they arrived at their intended destination, Lindauer's 16-year-old daughter asked her mom to stop at a park on Saginaw's West Side, where Lindauer pulled up and saw four males and a female, her older daughter's friend.

Soon after her older teenage daughter got out, Lindauer said a young male punched the teen twice, once in the jaw and again in the eye, sending her to the ground.

Lindauer hit the ground next, she said, when she got out of the van and another male grabbed her hair, slammed her to the road and "knocked me out," she said.

"When I came to, I hear my oldest screaming, 'Mom, get them off me.'"

She said she remembers trying to tell her 12-year-old daughter, Ariella, to hand her "mace" from out of her purse, "but I couldn't talk." Ariella screamed next.

"Mom, I can't breathe," Lindauer heard. They locked eyes.

"Her entire shirt was saturated with blood. I called 911 and tried to get out of there."

Someone had stabbed Ariella in the chest while she was sitting in the van, Lindauer said. Police have confirmed that a 12-year-old girl suffered a non-life-threatening stab wound to the chest.

The family escaped by getting back into the van, and the mother sped off.

Saginaw Police Detective Sgt. Reggie Williams said the incident is under investigation and declined to comment further on the details of the case. Police have not confirmed Lindauer's version of events.

Police responded at 11:13 p.m. Sunday to South Michigan near McGregor. The report lists the fight as involving six females versus two males, all juveniles, Williams told The Saginaw News on Dec. 22.

Related: 12-year-old girl stabbed in chest during eight-person brawl

At a Saginaw hospital, Ariella got three stitches and two butterfly stitches, her mom said. Police arrested Lindauer at the hospital.

Jennie Lindauer

She was arraigned on two counts of felonious assault and was released on a $7,500 cash/surety 10 percent bond per count, court records show.

Lindauer disputes allegations that she tried to hit people on the road with her vehicle. She said she sped "backwards, in reverse, down Michigan to try to get away."

"They were going to hurt us," she said, adding that one of the males held up a gun as she sped away.

"I was trying to get out of there. I was in fear for my life and my children's lives."

She believes the four males were high school- and college-aged.

Police did not find a weapon used in the stabbing.

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Lindauer's vehicle is being held as evidence, she said.

On Tuesday evening, Lindauer said her daughter's probation officer called and said she might have to report for a hearing Wednesday morning. Ariella was on probation related to a shoplifting incident, her mother said.

In hindsight, Lindauer believes there was a lot of talk on Facebook and elsewhere online that began when the girls were at the roller rink. She believes that led to the violent confrontation.

She said she didn't know about the online talk until after the incident.

"She told me to pick up her friend," she said of her teen daughter. "I think she was looking out for her sister. It turned into something else."

The incident was "the scariest thing that's ever happened in my life," she said.

She hopes her daughters can get past the trauma, especially her youngest.

"She's only 12," Lindauer said. "Life's crazy. Unfortunately, she's going to end up in a confrontation again in life, and she's going to be scared about the outcome."

Police ask anyone with information to contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-422-JAIL.

-- Brad Devereaux is a public safety reporter for MLive/The Saginaw News. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Google+