Riverside Police Hunt Man Who Punched Woman In The Face After She Rebuffed His Advances

RIVERSIDE  (CBSLA.com) — A woman says a man hit on her, and then actually hit her, when she rebuffed his advances.

The unidentified woman spoke to CBS2's Erica Mandy.

The ordeal was caught on cellphone video.

"Not only did he hit a female, he blindsided me," the 21-year-old woman said.

She told Mandy the out-of-the-blue punch left her with a nasty black eye, a fracture and an infection.

The man was captured on cellphone video dancing and yelling vulgarities just moments before the attack.

"My eye immediately swelled up and shut and my nose was pouring blood," the woman said.

She said the incident happened after she rejected the man's advances

The woman and her friends had just left a club in downtown Riverside. They were walking to a parking garage at Mission Inn and Orange.

She says the man in the video and his friend followed and harassed them.

"There was no way we could have been more clear -- we just wanted them to leave, and they followed us all the way to our car," the victim said.

That's when she said the man went from hitting on her to assaulting her.

"I was just shocked. All I could think about was I hope somebody gets him, I hope somebody runs after him," she said.

The man got away. Riverside police are hoping that anyone who recognized the man will call police.

They want him captured before he assaults anyone else.

"If he gets away with this, he's going to do it again," the victim said, "And next time, it might not just be a punch in the face."

Even "just" a punch in the face can have lasting repercussions. The victims told Mandy she has lots of anxiety since the incident and has trouble leaving her house.