Kim Glass said she was leaving lunch with a friend when the man ran up out of nowhere and threw a metal object at her, believed to be a pipe, that then hit her face.
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"This homeless man ran up and he had something in his hand," she said. "He was on the other side of the car in the street and he just looked at me with some pretty hateful eyes."
In a video posted to social media, Glass could be seen with one eye nearly swollen shut. She said the attack left her with a fractured cheek and she also had to get stitches.
Glass said she had no advance warning to brace or defend herself before the man threw a metal object at her, striking her in the face and leaving one eye swollen shut and fractures cheek.
A group of strangers came to her aid until paramedics arrived, she said.
The group of good Samaritans held down the suspect, identified as 51-year-old Semeon Tesfamarian, until officers arrived to the area of Olive and 8th streets around 2:30 p.m. Friday, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
Despite her injuries, Glass said she is OK and it could've been much worse.
"Guys, just be safe out there... I wasn't ready for it and there's a lot of mentally ill people on these streets right now," she said in the video.
Tesfamariam was arrested and booked for felony assault with a deadly weapon. He was being held without bail.
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Glass won a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics on the U.S.A. women's indoor volleyball team. She's also done some modeling in her career, once appearing in a Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue.