Mother, Infant Injured in Attack on Pacoima Street

A man apparently under the influence of drugs went berserk on a Pacoima street Thursday, striking a woman on the head with a brick and injuring her 1-year-old daughter before police subdued him, Los Angeles police said.

Raynaldo Mendibles, 31, who lives in the 13600 block of Daventry Street where the attack occurred shortly after 3 p.m., was arrested and treated at Holy Cross Medical Center for head injuries after police struck him with batons when he lunged at them with the brick, Sgt. Robert Ontiveros said.

Two women also struck Mendibles with a broomstick and a vacuum bottle in an effort to subdue him, Ontiveros said. The man was beating himself on the head with the brick when police arrived, Ontiveros said.

Mendibles, who was listed in stable condition, was later transferred to the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center jail ward, a nursing supervisor at Holy Cross said.

Marguerita Valdez, 29, a neighbor of Mendibles, suffered a fractured skull and was being treated at Kaiser Permanente Hospital in Panorama City, Ontiveros said. Her daughter, Natalie, was being treated at the same hospital for unspecified injuries, he said.

Their conditions were not immediately available, but they were considered well enough to be transferred to Kaiser from another hospital, authorities said. It was not known if Mendibles struck the baby with the brick or if the girl was injured when her mother dropped her during the attack.

A man who saw Valdez lying wounded on the sidewalk angrily approached Mendibles, asking “What did that guy do to my wife?” But police persuaded him to back off, a witness said.