CLEVELAND — You probably think a well-populated area in broad daylight is safe, but that's not the case in this situation.
According to surveillance footage obtained by News 5 of an alleyway near East 9th Street, a Sausalito on Ninth employee was pressure washing catering equipment around 3:15 p.m.
A man, with food and wine in hand, walks by her while her back is turned towards the alleyway.
Surveillance video captures the man glancing behind him to see if anyone else is around.
No one is.
He then sets his belongings down and makes a beeline towards the Sausalito employee.
"[He] then skipped over the alley. He jumped her and attacked her and brutally beat her," Charlotte Sigel, Sausalito on Ninth catering, sales and marketing manager, told me.
The video shows the man grabbing the employee from behind before slamming her to the ground. He then punches her several times.
She manages to get on her feet for a brief second, but the man knocks her down to the ground again and corners her with several more hits.
The man, after less than 30 seconds, takes a pause, and the employee gets up to run inside the restaurant's back door.
The employee said her attacker didn't make any sounds or speak during the assault.
"Extremely traumatic. I can't even imagine what she's feeling walking in. Seeing her with her injuries, that was bad enough," Sigel said. "It's absolutely sickening that somebody is capable of doing that to another human being. It's just unfathomable. She's tough. She fought him off. She got back into the restaurant. She survived and that's the one thing that we just keep reminding her is, you know, you survived this, and to kind of hold on to that."
Sigel said the employee, who wishes to remain anonymous, is now recovering from a partially fractured forearm, head trauma, and several cuts and bruises along her body.
"We've been checking on her all throughout the day," Sigel said. "We're supporting her, thinking of her, and praying for her."
One of the biggest concerns now: Where is this guy? And who is he?
I reached out to the Cleveland Police Department for more information on the suspect's whereabouts, but no one was available to provide a comment on Thursday. We'll check back in on Friday.
Sigel said they did receive an update from police on Wednesday, though.
"They said that they did track him to a RTA bus. The officer said he used some form of a card," she told me. "He's (a CPD officer) saying because he used that card and the cameras on the bus, they think that's like a strong lead, but obviously, you know, if anybody can identify him from the clips, you know, we really need the community to come together because she needs justice and we don't want this to happen to anybody else."
Not only is the attack alarming to Sigel, but she said the man who did this didn't give off any initial red flags.
"I think that's another layer that is incredibly shocking. He looked like a clean cut person. His dreads looked in order. He had, from the video footage, clean clothes. He had his little side bag with him. He had food in his hand, a bottle of wine in his hand," she said. "I wouldn't think anything of it. Who can you trust?"
The incident makes Sigel nervous, especially because employees, friends, and family walk through that alleyway regularly.
"It's very rattling," she told me.
Sigel said she and the owner of Sausalito have spoken with their building's leadership about increasing security, as well as Cleveland Alliance and the police department.
"I will say, today, we have seen a tremendous amount of squad cars looping around, so that's been very comforting," Sigel said.
But feeling safe comes with the man who attacked her employee being behind bars, Sigel said.
"I hope that there's an arrest, there's prosecution, and that justice is properly served. We want the fullest extent for him to serve," Sigel said. "There are just no words. It's completely shocking and people like that do not deserve to be free. They simply don't. I hope Cleveland does its best to make that happen for her."
Saravanan "Babu" Chandrababu, the owner of Sausalito on Ninth, is offering a $5,000 reward to anyone who comes forward with credible information leading to an arrest.
A GoFundMe will be made on behalf of the victim on Friday.
We'll continue to Follow Through.
