Man reportedly fakes injuries then attacks young woman in Colorado Springs

A 23-year-old woman picked up a stranger on Thursday near Peterson and Platte in Colorado Springs. As they approached Chelton, he attacked her.

The victim says she saw the suspect walking in the street screaming for help, limping and holding his head.

"He seemed like he was hit, he really had me convinced," Whitney Hodges explained.

Whitney picked up the injured man to take him to the hospital. Within minutes, everything changed.

"All of a sudden he just sits straight up and he's like 'I need you to pull over,'" Whitney recalled.

She listened and pulled over the vehicle.

"As I'm grabbing my backpack I have the door kind of cracked open, I grabbed the keys and jump out, as I try, he pulls me back," Whitney stated.

Police say that man is 39-year-old Clarence Pate. When she was attacked, she decided to fight back.

"I have the keys, and I was like let go let go, he wouldn't let go so I just started f***ing punching him in the face until he let go and then I got out and I f***ing pulled him out of the truck. I was like, we're not f***ing having this today," Whitney described the ordeal.

An ambulance crew passing by on Platte saw what was happening and stopped to help.

Whitney has bruising on her collar bone and neck from the fight.

"I can't believe it, I'm still trying to register that, that even happened, I can't even believe, he put all that effort in and look what he got, he got thrown in jail," Whitney said.

Whitney acknowledges that if he'd had a weapon, she would have let the truck go. She also says she won't pick up a stranger again. The medic who stopped to help was also punched in the face. Whitney says she wants to thank him.

Clarence Pate was arrested for kidnapping, assault and robbery.