Ashli Babbitt’s love rival claims she harassed her and rammed her car

US Air Force veteran said 2016 incident was an accident

Ashli Babbitt (AP)

Capitol rioter Ashli Babbitt has been revealed to have repeatedly rammed into the car of her husband’s former girlfriend before the couple married in 2019.

The former resident of California, who was shot by a Capitol police officer on 6 January 2021, was also issued with two forms of a restraining order following an affair.

Aaron Babbitt’s former girlfriend, Celeste Norris, told The Associated Press that Babbitt (then McEntee) targeted her in a car ramming attack in Prince Frederick, a town about 60 miles south of Baltimore, in July 2016.

It came after Ms Norris informed Timothy McEntee that his wife was having an affair with her then boyfriend of six years Mr Babbitt, and who worked at a nuclear power plant in Maryland with the 6 January rioter.

The revelation led to a long running feud between the two women, and an altercation on the road in July 2016 when Babbitt rammed into Ms Norris’s rear bumper – forcing another vehicle out of the way.

A frightened Ms Norris said she pulled over and waited for help – allowing Babbitt to get out of her SUV and walk up to Ms Norris’s window and bang it.

While images from the road rage incident showed Ms Norris’s vehicle with a smashed bumper and a dented hood, court documents revealed that Babbitt was afterwards charged with reckless endangerment and a number of traffic offences, according to The Associated Press.

Ms Norris said she asked a court to issue a a type of restraining order against Babbitt, alternatively known as a peace order, that would stop her communicating with her after July 2016.

Records reportedly show that a second order was issued in 2017 against Babbitt for harassment and stalking, because Ms Norris said she “lived in fear because I didn’t know what she was capable of, I was constantly looking over my shoulder.”

Babbitt, who appeared in court for the 2016 road rage incident, later admitted later to being responsible but claimed it was an accident.

It was unclear if she was charged for creating “a substantial risk of death or serious physical injury to another”, as her charges were described in Maryland law.

She was also subject to a personal injury lawsuit filed by Ms Norris in 2019 for $74,500 ($54,000) in damages. While that was settled out of court, the Babbitts by that time had relocated to California and married shortly after.

Babbitt, a US Air Force veteran, identified on social media as a supporter of Donald Trump and the QAnon conspiracy that fasely claims a secret cabal of elites was fighting to stop Mr Trump.

The Capitol Police officer who shot Babbitt on 6 January was afterwards cleared of any wrongdoing – despite criticism from both Mr Trump and Mr Babbitt over her death.

Additional reporting by The Associated Press.