Police Seeking Woman in Videotaped Fatal Attack

Los Angeles police were looking for a woman Thursday who was captured on videotape choking a man to death last weekend at a crowded Miracle Mile park, apparently over a pack of cigarettes.

The victim, a 50-year-old North Hollywood man, is shown on the videotape passing out during the Sunday afternoon attack, in which the woman was heard shouting that he had stolen her cigarettes.

The victim was pronounced dead half an hour later at nearby Westside Hospital. His name has been withheld pending notification of relatives.

The county coroner’s office has ruled the cause of death as cardiac arrest brought on by blunt force trauma to the neck.

Although the tape depicts some bystanders at Pan Pacific Park yelling at the woman to stop, investigators said none of about 10 people shown on the tape made any move to stop the attack.

Lt. Ross Moen of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Wilshire Division said a man and woman walking 15 feet away didn’t even glance at the assault.

The tape was shot from about 40 feet away by a motorist who had been driving along the 6100 block of 3rd Street and stopped after he looked over and thought he was witnessing a mugging, Moen said.

About 3:15 p.m., the woman--estimated to weigh 250 pounds--attacked the 200-pound victim and pinned his neck to the ground with her left forearm, Detective Kelly Cooper said. “She was pressing her body weight on her forearm,” he said.

The suspect was last seen catching an eastbound bus on 3rd Street, Cooper said. She was described as African American, 35 to 40 years old and 5 feet, 5 inches to 5 feet, 9 inches tall. She was wearing a white top and green pants.

Anyone with information is asked to call homicide detectives at (213) 847-3990 during business hours and (213) 485-2504 after hours.