Woman Claims Cousin Ran Her Over Twice

Jan. 26, 2011 — -- Giselle Penagos claims that her cousin Melanie Spanopoulos ran over her with a minivan after ferocious argument and then backed up and ran over her again. Police say the fight was triggered by textings and Facebook postings over a guy.

Spanopoulos' lawyer, however, denied today that she ran over her cousin. Instead, he claims an angry Penagos jumped out of the car after it had slowed down to 30 mph.

Penagos, 21, was left with a broken leg and fractured pelvis. Spanopoulos, 20, was arrested and charged with assault. She was arraigned Tuesday in Nassau County court in New York and released on $15,000 bail.

There are several versions of what happened.

The New York Post reported that the fight started when a man denied a Facebook friend request from Penagos, but accepted a request from Spanopoulos. When Penagos found out, the two women began to fight.

"We were told this stemmed from a Facebook conflict where a third party was the catalyst," Nassau County Detective Sgt. Robert Galgano told ABC News. "We can't release his name. Through the course of the investigation, this is the information that came to light as a possible catalyst for this altercation."

Penagos' uncle, William Penagos, denied that the fight was over a guy on Facebook.

"I don't know where the Facebook issue came from. It has nothing to do with why they were fighting. I just spoke to Giselle. She read the Post and she said, 'Where did this Facebook thing come from?'" the uncle said.

According to William Penagos, "They went to a playoff party on Sunday, and it was about 12:30 in the morning. Giselle wanted to be dropped off at a friend's house. On the way there, they were talking, everything was fine, but when they got there the guy wasn't home." According to the police report, the time of occurence was 1:30 am.

"Melanie, the driver, got very upset that she drove all the way there for no reason, and they started to argue in the car," the uncle said. "Giselle wanted to be dropped off at her father's house in Queens. Melanie got very upset, and they started screaming at each other while they were driving. Melanie punched Giselle in the face while she was driving."