Baltimore Woman Punched in Face Upset With Police

Oct. 4, 2011
A Baltimore woman said Monday she no longer feels safe in the city after a night in Fells Point left her punched in the face.

BALTIMORE --

A Baltimore woman said Monday she no longer feels safe in the city after a night in Fells Point left her punched in the face.

Sheila Kauffman said she has lost her faith in police after the way she said they treated her.

"I don't feel safe. It seems like this can happen all the time to people," she said.

Kauffman said she's bruised because of a fight that broke out in Fells Point on Saturday night outside of a bar in the 700 block of South Broadway.

"A guy fell right in front of me, and when he stood up, I said, 'Nobody needs to fight. Just stop,' and he punched me," Kauffman said.

Kauffman said what hurts most is not her face, but the treatment she got from police, saying 10 city police officers and an ambulance showed up at the scene. Police confirmed that officers were called to the scene for a fight that night.

"The cops came, and I was inside cleaning up. They told my friends they should take me inside and told me when we came out they would talk to me after they did everything else," Kauffman said.

Kauffman said the officers were all gone when she came out of the bar. The next day, she went to Bayview Medical Center to be treated, where they told her she had a fractured cheek. She asked for a police officer there to file a report.

"We asked a for a cop to come over and I said, 'I want to press charges against the guy' because we had his name and the cop told me 'because I don't have his address and birth date, there was nothing we can do about this,'" Kauffman said.

Maria Alvarez, who took Kauffman to the hospital, said she was shocked by the officer's response.

"He pretty much said there was nothing he could do, couldn't go get a person, figure out who it is, nothing they could do," Alvarez said.

Police did say she should file a report with internal affairs, which Kauffman said she plans to do.

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