BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Three bystanders were stabbed in Federal Hill over the weekend after they tried to stop a car fleeing the scene of a bus crash, Baltimore police said.

Three people were walking south in the 100 block of East West Street around 2 a.m. Sunday, when they saw a dark sedan back into a bus at Light and Cross streets, said Baltimore police spokesman Officer Troy Harris.

Bystanders began to yell, “What are you doing?!” at the driver, who was trying to flee, upsetting several people in the vehicle, according to Harris.

As the sedan began to head down West Street, two females and one male got out and began assaulting some of the bystanders, police said.

Three bystanders suffered stab wounds, Harris said, and were in “fair condition.”

The attack gained attention Tuesday when a woman — who said she also was assaulted —  sent out a widely circulated e-mail describing what occurred in an attempt to locate witnesses.

In a separate e-mail to The Examiner, the woman asked not to be identified, but said her message helped find four witnesses. 

In the circulated e-mail, the woman said that she saw the crash and that several people tried to intervene.

“Everyone ... was yelling at the driver to stop because she was attempting to flee the accident,” she wrote.

She said an unrelated fight near William and West streets impeded the driver because people from that fight were blocking the street. 

The woman said a female passenger assaulted her after one of her companions yelled at the driver to stop.

“The girl grabbed me by the ponytail and threw me to the ground,” the woman wrote. “At that time others joined in and all were kicking, punching and stomping on me ... the girl still had me by the hair and was smashing my face into the sidewalk and kicking me even more. I fortunately had my purse in between the sidewalk and my face, or I would have lost all my teeth.”

lbroadwater@baltimoreexaminer.com