Article content
A mother of three attacked for her backpack outside a downtown daycare could have been the city’s latest homicide victim had officers not arrived to wrestle off the assailant who had choked her to unconsciousness on the ground, say police.
Article content
The 39-year-old woman was standing outside the daycare at 115 Street and 105 Avenue, waiting for the doors to open so she could take her three kids home, when a man approached her around 3:45 p.m. Wednesday, police said in a Friday release.
The man, said to be impaired, first tried to rip the backpack off her shoulders but when the woman resisted, he unzipped it and tried to reach inside, said police. The woman was then thrown to the ground, her head repeatedly smashed against the sidewalk before the assailant was seen by officers sitting on top of her, choking her until she passed out.
“Two of our members spotted the male suspect choking the woman on the ground and rushed to her aid,” said city police Insp. Erik Johnson said in a statement. “Another two minutes and we may have been talking about a homicide today.
“The incident in itself is extremely disturbing and was exacerbated by the fact two of her young children watched the entire incident through the front door of the daycare.”
The officers had been responding to another call about the same assailant when the intervened in the attack. Paramedics treated and transported the woman to hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. She has since been released.
Rockie Rabbit, 30, is charged with aggravated assault, choking to overcome resistance, robbery and breach of conditions.
More to come…
