SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Surveillance video captured a brutal, unprovoked attack on a woman in East Village.
Just before 11:30 a.m. Monday, near 11th and Broadway, video shows a woman in her 30s, walking through a parking lot, on her way to get pizza.
At the same time, a man with a duffle bag and backpack walking past the lot, looks and sees her, before he starts running toward her.
Police say as he approaches, he mumbles something, which the woman couldn’t decipher. In the video, she tries to avoid him, but moments later, he attacks her. He punches her on the side of her head, sending her into the fence before he takes off.
The woman suffered a herniated disk in her neck, along with cuts and bruises.
SDPD Lt. Ryan Hallahan, who oversees downtown operations, says the suspect fits the description of a man, who got into an altercation with security at the City College trolley stop shortly before the attack.
“It was a disturbance, where a man threatened to hit them with a chair before he left,” said Lt. Hallahan.
Lt. Hallahan says there has been a steady increase in violent incidents in the East Village area.
“I would say almost every day, we have what we call a 'hot call’ to a violent incident … a big thing every day for us is homeless people with knives … having some kind of conflict, usually within their homeless peers,” said Lt. Hallahan.
Cindy Cook, who started Facebook and Instagram groups called ‘East Village Doers’ for East Village neighbors, says the assault is nothing new.
“I know a lot of people actually that have had similar things happen to them,” said Cook.
When she's out, she carries a personal safety alarm and pepper spray.
“I’m often afraid to leave my home after dark … In the past month, I’ve had several friends that have given up and moved out of East Village,” said Cook.
Lt. Hallahan says a new pilot program in place involves a walking patrol aimed at preventing incidents downtown.
Anyone with information on the assault case is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 888-580-8477.
