A 52-year-old La Mesa man was arrested on suspicion of attacking a woman with a baseball bat in La Mesa in the aftermath of a protest against police brutality over the weekend, police said on Thursday.
The victim, a 34-year-old La Mesa woman, told police that she was walking home around 2 a.m. on Sunday when she was randomly attacked near the intersection of Palm and Fresno avenues by a man with a baseball bat, La Mesa police Lt. Greg Runge said. She suffered a broken right hand and a bruised right thigh, he said.
A La Mesa police officer witnessed the attack and arrested the man, later identified as 52-year-old Javier Zavala, but he was only booked on suspicion of being drunk in public because the victim fled the scene, the lieutenant said.
After the victim came forward recently, Zavala was rearrested Wednesday morning and booked into jail on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, Runge said.
