Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Blindsided by a lug wrench at the bus stop

"I bet you didn’t think I could sneak up on you like that, did you?”

Judge Harry Elias listens to the victim, Armando
Judge Harry Elias listens to the victim, Armando

Armando said he was seated on a bench, minding his own business the morning of February 22, 2017, when he was attacked. “I was waiting for the bus.” It was almost time for his regular ride to work, the 7:15 a.m. bus on Barnard Way near College Boulevard, when he noticed someone approaching, out of the corner of his eye.

“I was gonna move over,” Armando meant to make room for the other person. “Then all of a sudden I just saw blue.” Armando claimed that a strange woman struck him in the face with a large, blue, socket wrench. “A big metal one, for changing tires,” he told a judge in court on September 11.

Suspect Sarah Marie Riley and her lawyer

Immediately after he was struck, Armando said he heard the woman say, "I bet you didn’t think I could sneak up on you like that, did you?” And she cursed him.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Armando said he did not know the woman.

“I never seen her before in my life!” He was amazed and afraid. “She was talking to me as if she knew me!… So I ran to the middle of the street.” He was dialing 911 to avoid being hit again, and the woman continued ranting. “Everything else she was telling me was just gibberish!”

Armando said he got a deep gash on his left cheek, just below his eye, which required two stitches at the urgent-care center nearby, in Oceanside.

Suspect Sarah Marie Riley, 49, was booked into custody at 8:45 a.m. the same morning. Riley is described in sheriff’s records as 5 feet 3 inches tall, 135 pounds, a white female with brown hair and brown eyes.

Deputy Jessica Caporaso rewound surveillance video to see Riley break a broomstick over a cellmate's head.

The following morning, at about 9:22 a.m., San Diego sheriff’s deputy Jessica Caporaso was monitoring the control room at the Vista jail when she noticed the women in Module Six “scattering and looking suspicious.” She immediately activated a lockdown for that area. When Caporaso and other deputies reviewed surveillance video, they saw one female detainee pick up a broom and strike another female over the head with it.

“It actually broke in half,” the deputy told the judge. Caporaso said that when deputies questioned the offender, Riley, “She said we needed to get sturdier brooms.”

Riley's attorney said she has a history of mental-health problems, and public records show that she has multiple mental-health cases since 1993, when she would have been 25. She also has had multiple civil and criminal cases over the years.

After a brief preliminary hearing, which lasted less than 20 minutes, judge Harry Elias ordered Riley to answer two felony counts of assault. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and her next court date is set for October 10 in San Diego’s North County Superior Courthouse in Vista.

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Gonzo Report: Ben Folds takes requests via paper airplane at UCSD

A bunch of folks brought theirs from home
Next Article

Steven Richter comes up with $1 million for Lincoln Club

Lincoln Club helps Larry Turner, hits Terra Lawson-Remer
Judge Harry Elias listens to the victim, Armando
Judge Harry Elias listens to the victim, Armando

Armando said he was seated on a bench, minding his own business the morning of February 22, 2017, when he was attacked. “I was waiting for the bus.” It was almost time for his regular ride to work, the 7:15 a.m. bus on Barnard Way near College Boulevard, when he noticed someone approaching, out of the corner of his eye.

“I was gonna move over,” Armando meant to make room for the other person. “Then all of a sudden I just saw blue.” Armando claimed that a strange woman struck him in the face with a large, blue, socket wrench. “A big metal one, for changing tires,” he told a judge in court on September 11.

Suspect Sarah Marie Riley and her lawyer

Immediately after he was struck, Armando said he heard the woman say, "I bet you didn’t think I could sneak up on you like that, did you?” And she cursed him.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Armando said he did not know the woman.

“I never seen her before in my life!” He was amazed and afraid. “She was talking to me as if she knew me!… So I ran to the middle of the street.” He was dialing 911 to avoid being hit again, and the woman continued ranting. “Everything else she was telling me was just gibberish!”

Armando said he got a deep gash on his left cheek, just below his eye, which required two stitches at the urgent-care center nearby, in Oceanside.

Suspect Sarah Marie Riley, 49, was booked into custody at 8:45 a.m. the same morning. Riley is described in sheriff’s records as 5 feet 3 inches tall, 135 pounds, a white female with brown hair and brown eyes.

Deputy Jessica Caporaso rewound surveillance video to see Riley break a broomstick over a cellmate's head.

The following morning, at about 9:22 a.m., San Diego sheriff’s deputy Jessica Caporaso was monitoring the control room at the Vista jail when she noticed the women in Module Six “scattering and looking suspicious.” She immediately activated a lockdown for that area. When Caporaso and other deputies reviewed surveillance video, they saw one female detainee pick up a broom and strike another female over the head with it.

“It actually broke in half,” the deputy told the judge. Caporaso said that when deputies questioned the offender, Riley, “She said we needed to get sturdier brooms.”

Riley's attorney said she has a history of mental-health problems, and public records show that she has multiple mental-health cases since 1993, when she would have been 25. She also has had multiple civil and criminal cases over the years.

After a brief preliminary hearing, which lasted less than 20 minutes, judge Harry Elias ordered Riley to answer two felony counts of assault. She has pleaded not guilty to all charges, and her next court date is set for October 10 in San Diego’s North County Superior Courthouse in Vista.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Please enjoy this clickable Reader flipbook. Linked text and ads are flash-highlighted in blue for your convenience. To enhance your viewing, please open full screen mode by clicking the icon on the far right of the black flipbook toolbar.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

JamPinoy: one cafeteria line, two cultures

Pick your island cuisine in Vista's new Jamaican-slash-Filipino eatery
Next Article

Big bugs early in the season – Wahoo bonanza off Mag Bay

Bluefin at the Coronados
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader