A woman who was celebrating her birthday is now recovering after she was brutally beaten in an attack that was captured on cellphone video.
The incident took place inside a parking garage near Las Palmas Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard.
“It didn’t have to escalate to that situation,” said Cynthia Stergious, who spoke with CBSLA Saturday, before meeting with detectives from the Los Angeles Police Department. “I don’t understand how someone could be so cruel.”
Stergious, who suffered multiple blows to her face and body, said the attack in the parking garage happened in the early morning hours Friday.
“I have stitches right here. It kind of hurts to talk a little. I have stitches right here. I have a bruise on my leg. It is humongous,” she told CBSLA’s Lauren Pozen.
She said that she and her friends had just celebrated her 26th birthday at Revel Lounge. As they all walked back to their cars across the street, she said two men approached them in the garage.
“Words were exchanged. I don’t know what was said, when one of my friends got hit on the head,” Stergious said.
The 26-year-old said that those same men then started calling her names, and more words were exchanged between her and the men. Shortly after that, she said her mind went blank.
Video taken of the assault is extremely graphic and difficult to watch.
“I just remember getting knocked down. He socked me in the face. He socked me in the face repeatedly, but I was already unconscious at that point,” Stergious said.
She said that one of the men knocked her in front of a car and threatened to run her over. That’s when her friends grabbed her body and moved her out of the way.
In the aftermath of the attack, Stergious said she doesn’t understand why it all happened and wants the perpetrators off the streets, so that no other woman is put in this position.
“I was already down on the floor and he still continued to do what he did, and on top of it was ready to run me over. He did not care,” she told CBSLA.
An attendant at the parking garage where the incident happened told CBSLA that there are cameras in the garage, though it’s unclear if they captured the attack.
It is currently unclear who the men seen attacking Stergious in the video are, though investigators are now working to track down her attackers.