Chilling new details involving a woman beaten into a coma over an East Village parking space last February, as Oscar Fuller, the man accused of pummeling the woman, is claiming self-defense. Pei-Sze Cheng reports.
Prosecutors Wednesday released disturbing video and 911 calls in the clash over a Manhattan parking spot that put a woman in a coma.
The victim, Lana Rosas, still wears a helmet because of head injuries from the incident, according to her lawyer. She is not taking the stand against Oscar Fuller, the man charged with assaulting her.
In the Feb. 25 incident, Fuller argued with Lana Rosas over a Manhattan parking spot she wanted to save for her boyfriend.
Prosecutors say Fuller punched Rosas in the face out of rage. He has said he was defending himself after she hit him first.
"I hit her 'cause she hit me," Fuller said in one taped interview March 1.
He went on to tell investigators he only "tapped" Rosas, demonstrating with his hands.
"It wasn't like I was trying to hit her with all my might," he said.
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But 25-year-old Rosas, who is barely five feet tall, was in a coma for a week and still hasn't fully recovered, according to her attorney David Oddo.
Prosecutors released 911 calls from witnesses in the assault. In one call, a woman tells the dispatcher, "A man just punched a woman in the face, she's on the ground. She's knocked out on the floor... He just hit her and run. She's bleeding, can you send an ambulance immediately."
Another caller told the dispatcher, "Somebody just got knocked out, like punched in the face. On 14th Street between A and B... She definitely needs an ambulance. She's bleeding out of the mouth badly."
Lana Rosas wasn't in court Wednesday as prosecutors rested their case.
It's unclear whether Fuller will testify. A friend testified Wednesday she saw him holding a bloody tissue to his own head shortly after the incident.
