The Police Were Called, But There Was No Response To The Incident
Westwood resident Jessica Marshawn reported on Nextdoor that she and her husband and toddler were assaulted in broad daylight in front of the Westwood Target. Her post stated, “We called the police 20 minutes ago and they still haven’t come. My husband and I were pushing a toddler in a stroller on the way into Target when this man jumped out and started hitting my husband. My husband ran to engage him so he wouldn’t hurt me and our toddler in the stroller. Bystanders helped us. Police haven’t arrived and this person is still on the loose. Be careful out there.”
Century City-Westwood News interviewed Jessica via phone:
Dolores Quintana: I understand that you went through a disturbing experience recently.
Jessica Marshawn: It was actually just yesterday. It was yesterday at 2:40 pm.
Dolores Quintana: Would you like to tell me a little bit about what happened?
My husband and I were out with our toddler who is turning two this week. We were coming from the UCLA Botanic Garden. Do we live in the area and my son loves the turtles there. We were going to stop at Target to get some supplies for his birthday this week. We were about to pass the crosswalk that’s right across from Trader Joe’s. I noticed this man and I thought he looks scary. There were a lot of people around and the sidewalk was pretty crowded. There wasn’t a lot of room for us, but we walked by. We didn’t say anything. We weren’t really looking directly at him. He kind of jumped out from behind the sign that was there and start punching my husband in the head just out of nowhere. It was so shocking. I started screaming, my baby started crying because my husband was shoved into me and the stroller. Then my husband pushed him away because he was afraid that he would keep hurting us. He wanted to engage him away from me and our baby. My husband’s a runner. He just kept running, and the man was chasing him. At this point, cars were stopped. There were a lot of cars, and there were a lot of people. I was screaming for help. My child was crying inconsolably. A bunch of people rushed to help me mostly women just to come help me with the baby. Then a couple of men followed the man who was following my husband. The man would stop and then sort of turn around and then keep following him and he kept trying to still attack my husband. They were running around on Glendon for a few minutes. I called 911. I did get through right away. I explained the incident.
Dolores Quintana: Then what happened?
She told me the police would have come and to flag them down when they came. I did tell her that I don’t think the man has a weapon. It didn’t look like my husband was very hurt. There was a man there who got a picture of the attacker. That’s the picture that I posted on my post. One employee from Trader Joe’s and another man followed the attacker and they were able to sort of calm him down verbally from a distance. The cops have been called and we wanted him arrested. I asked, my husband did not follow Him because I just didn’t want to get hurt. So at this point where there are no cops. The wife of the man who gave me the picture, said she had called the police and my husband had also called the cops. We had at least three people that I know of that called the cops in that vicinity.
After 40 minutes had passed, we couldn’t keep waiting there. So we came home and then on our way home, we called the police back. They said that we would need to call them to cancel, so I had to call them separately to cancel the request. My husband, after we got home, drove by himself to the West LA police station to make a police report. That’s the incident number that I posted on my update on Nextdoor in case somebody else needs to reference it because that man is still on the loose.
Dolores Quintana: Is your husband okay?
He’s okay. He had to bend in a weird way. And he was getting punched in the head so his neck is really bad today. He’ll be seeing a doctor.
Dolores Quintana: Is there anything else that you would like to add?
Yeah, so that was really frustrating. Everybody was just really shocked that the police still hadn’t come. I thought that as soon as you call them, especially when you say somebody’s being assaulted, my husband’s being assaulted and my toddler was just attacked, you would think that they would come at least within five minutes. So it was really surprising that they didn’t. I guess I want to understand why. What’s causing that? Because that seems to me, it felt urgent. But I just don’t understand how that can be like that in the city.
I guess the other thing I would say is that we’ve lived here in this specific neighborhood for seven years, and the crime has definitely increased. This is the first time we’ve been assaulted. But earlier this two times earlier this year, we’ve had transients breaking into our parking garage, which hasn’t ever happened before. My knowledge, though, is a crime is really just getting worse. We’re considering whether or not it’s worth it to move because I don’t want to be somewhere where I feel unsafe walking with my child in broad daylight on a Sunday.
Jessica updated us the next day and let us know that her husband would be seeing the doctor because his neck and shoulders were strained much more than they realized after 48 hours after ducking the assailant’s punches.
Jessica also stated, “I would like to understand the cause behind the non-response from the police when my family was attacked. This city is broken if resources are spread so thin that these types of emergencies cannot be addressed in a timely manner. I have been up all night replaying the scene of my husband fending off an attacker and I am having trouble sleeping. I panic at the thought of what would have happened if my husband had not been with me if the attacker had weapons, and the fact that he is still out there freely walking the streets.
We pay a premium to live here because the city has a lot to offer. However, when living here comes with a cost to my family’s safety, that equation no longer makes sense. I shudder to think of what will be left of our city if hard-working, law-abiding citizens feel they need to leave in order to feel safe. Things need to change.
We spoke with the West LA Police representative Officer Cervantes and verified that the report of a battery had been made and received no further information.
