Drivers on the 55 Freeway in Santa Ana witnessed a woman hanging out of the side of a car in an apparent conflict with the occupant of that car. The incident was captured on cellphone video, and the California Highway Patrol is investigating.

It happened during rush hour Monday on the northbound freeway near the Dyer Road exit, witnesses said.

Two friends who saw the strange sight unfold said a woman jumped out of the back of a white sedan and grabbed onto the passenger-side door of a black car, apparently a Honda.

“We noticed somebody jumped out of a car, and when we looked over and … it’s like, ‘Whoa,’” Gabriel Martinez said. “We see she ran toward the other vehicle and started swinging at the passenger side of the vehicle.”

The witnesses said the woman seemed to be swinging at the person in the passenger side of the black car. Then the driver of the black car moved the vehicle into the far-right lane, dragging the woman alongside it.

“She held on for dear life,” Martinez said. “She held on for a couple minutes, going about 12 mph.”

The woman eventually gave up and could be seen walking down the shoulder of the freeway.

The witnesses who spoke to KTLA speculated about what motivated the incident.

CHP officials, meanwhile, said the agency received calls about the incident but the involved vehicles were gone when officers responded to investigate.