Mother Assaulted In Noe Valley Recovering As Suspect Search Continues
SAN FRANCISCO (KPIX 5) – Police in San Francisco are continuing their search for a suspect who brutally attacked a mother in Noe Valley two weeks ago.
The woman was carrying her six-month-old baby at the time of the assault.
Jessica Farb told KPIX 5 her friend had left her home less than an hour before she got a phone call she never expected: that she was in the hospital being treated for a serious head injury.
"We found out since then that she was assaulted and she was hit in the head with a blunt object," said Farb. "We're not sure what, but very likely something like a hammer or a pipe."
In recently obtained surveillance video from a Nest camera in the area of the assault, at around 6 p.m. on June 3, a woman holding a baby to her chest is seen crossing 28th Street on Sanchez. She walks out of frame, but the camera's microphone picks up sounds of the woman screaming and her baby crying.
You can also see two other people in the video, one who runs in the woman's direction.
Farb said her friend doesn't remember anything from the time she left her home to when she realized she was in the hospital. The victim was unable to give police any details of what happened, but her sister -- who lives in Washington D.C. -- turned out to have valuable information.
"She was on FaceTime with her sister right before the attack happened and during the attack," explained Farb. "And then all of a sudden it went black and she heard my friend say, 'He hit me.' So we know from that that it was an attack."
After emergency brain surgery to treat a major skull fracture, Farb says her friend is home and recovering well. The best case scenario is that she'll be back to work in a month, six weeks after the attack.
"She's in a ton of pain, as one would expect," said Farb. "Her head is just throbbing on and off when the meds aren't doing quite what they need to do. But they are just so grateful for their friends and their family."
Farb hopes that they will be able to get more surveillance video from people who live in that area -- maybe from their cameras that they have on the side of their homes. Any new information would help the victim's friends and police make headway in the search for the suspect who did this.
