A woman is recovering from serious injuries after she was attacked by a man in Long Beach early Saturday morning.
The incident happened around 4:30 a.m. as Beth Quintana was leaving work in the area of 25th Street and Cedar Avenue. She told police that an unknown man on a bicycle with a knife approached her from behind, demanded her personal property and then assaulted her.
“I had this really bad feeling, like something bad was going to happen, but I ignored my intuition and kept walking,” Quintana told KTLA 5’s Rachel Menitoff. “Probably about five seconds later, I felt my head being hit.”
As Beth was on the ground, the attacker got on top of her and pulled out a knife, demanding her purse.
“I felt like “Oh my God, he’s going to rape me’,” she said. “So I started screaming and fighting him.”
The single mother of two suffered a broken nose, a broken finger, a black eye, bruises to her face and a concussion. In addition, her finger was nearly severed off while trying to rip the knife from her attacker’s grasp, evidenced by the many cuts on both her hands.
She was immediately taken to a nearby hospital for treatment when first responders arrived.
Despite the harrowing experience, Beth says she will not let this stop her from doing what she wants.
“I’m not going to let this deter me from going to work early in the morning,” she said. “I’m going to continue to work, be out and live my life.”
The suspect fled before officers arrived, police said. No description has been released.
A GoFundMe has been established to help Beth cover unpaid time off from work and her medical bills, her roommate says.
Anyone with information should call Long Beach Police at (562) 435-6711.
To donate to the GoFundMe, click here.