Police Blame Error for Reports That No One Aided Rape Victim : Crime: Two people helped mentally disabled woman, who is in serious condition at a Santa Monica hospital.

A woman with the mental capacity of a 6-year-old was recovering Tuesday in a Santa Monica hospital after being raped and pummeled by a homeless man less than a block from her home in a halfway house for the mentally disabled, police said Tuesday.

In early reports, police said “hundreds of people” walked or drove by the site of the attack, which occurred about 3:30 p.m. Monday, without stopping to help the 48-year-old victim. On Tuesday, Santa Monica Police Sgt. Bill Brucker attributed those reports to a misunderstanding by a desk sergeant who was not at the scene.

In fact, two passersby tried to help the woman as she was attacked near a heavily traveled Santa Monica intersection, Brucker said. A Fire Department employee who was driving on Pico Boulevard stopped to call police, while a neighborhood resident tried to restrain the attacker.

The victim was listed in serious condition Tuesday with broken facial bones and deep cuts to her groin.

Police said Chester Runions, 38, encountered the mentally retarded woman at 20th Street and Pico Boulevard. Runions dragged the woman behind a concrete wall next to a nearby liquor store and raped and beat her, police said.

Because of her mental condition, “she is more trusting of people than she should be,” Brucker said of the victim, who was described by acquaintances as gentle.

Fidel Gonzalez, 32, who was walking by the liquor store as Runions pummeled his victim, tried to restrain the attacker, Brucker said. Runions turned to strike Gonzalez, who ran to a phone and called police.

When patrol officers arrived, Runions tried to escape arrest by saying that he wanted to help the injured woman, according to police. “He tried to make it sound like he was calling the police for help,” Brucker said. “He said, ‘I’m glad you came because I was trying to help this lady.’ ”

Brucker said the victim and a witness identified Runions as the assailant.

“(The victim) was able to tell us who did it and identify the suspect,” Brucker said. “She can tell us physically what happened, but I don’t think she understands the ramifications of it.”

The attack occurred about a block west of Santa Monica College, near a freeway on-ramp. Roni Roseberg, a public education specialist with the Santa Monica Fire Department, said she was driving to her job at Santa Monica City Hall when she saw the woman naked and bleeding on the sidewalk.

The victim was quiet and appeared to be in shock, Roseberg said. The Fire Department employee rushed across the street to a fast-food restaurant to call police. She said a man with blood on his hands was using the phone next to her and was also reporting the incident. Roseberg said she grabbed a large plastic bag from the store to cover the naked woman.

Merchants on Pico Boulevard said that because a wall and shrubbery partially block the attack site from view, many homeless people congregate there.

John Collins, manager of the Sunlight Mission Thrift Shoppe, said he did not know the attack had occurred until he heard police sirens approaching. When he walked out of his store, he saw the nude woman standing nearby.

“I didn’t hear anything,” Collins said. “It’s a bad situation.”

Police said the woman lives at a residential facility for mentally ill and disabled adults.

Office staff would not discuss the incident or confirm whether the woman was a resident, citing confidentiality.

Collins said the woman stops by his store every day. Most recently, she had been assembling a collection of purses, buying a new one every day for the past two weeks, he said. Collins said the women usually spent part of the day at Virginia Park, about a block away.

“She was very friendly,” Collins said. “She wouldn’t hurt a flea.”

Robert Murphy, whose income tax and investment company on Pico is directly across the street from the attack site, said no one in his office saw or heard anything.

“We didn’t hear any screams or anything,” Murphy said. “We can’t understand how that could have happened so quickly. It’s kind of strange.”

Runions was booked on charges of rape and attempted murder and was being held without bail at Santa Monica Jail.