Homeless woman attacks girl on South LA sidewalk, man jumps in to help

LOS ANGELES - A man in South Los Angeles is recovering after he stepped in to save a girl who was being attacked by a homeless woman.

The attack happened just before 8 a.m. on May 26, on S. Main Street near W. 87th Street. The interaction was caught on surveillance video. In the video, a young girl in purple is seen walking along the sidewalk, while a woman is walking in the other direction. As they approach one another, the woman is seen swiping at the girl. The two struggle before going out of frame.

John Arias is an armed security guard who was off duty when he saw the attack. He said that's when he intervened. He told FOX 11 that he was parking his car when he witnessed the attack, and said the woman had a knife. He ran over and grabbed the homeless woman, but was slashed across the face in the process. He stayed with the woman, taking her to the ground until his friend came to help.

"She was shouting racial slurs. She was saying like ‘I’m tired of you Hispanic people.' So it was just a random attack, just a hateful crime," Arias said. "Luckily I was wearing my glasses and when she slashed my face my glasses actually helped save my eyeballs."

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When officers with the Los Angeles Police Department arrived on the scene, they found Arias on top of the suspect. Arias said his friend took him to the hospital to get stitches. Police arrested the woman for assault with a deadly weapon.