SOUTH LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- The trial for a Los Angeles city firefighter and his mother accused of beating a woman who fed stray cats in South Los Angeles began on Thursday.
Prosecutors pointed to surveillance video as a key piece of evidence in the alleged attack on Sept. 14, 2013 in the Adams neighborhood.
Ian Eulian and his mother demanded Rebecca Stafford, 47, to stop feeding stray cats in the neighborhood, Stafford said. When she refused, the conversation turned physical.
"He said that they were pooping in his backyard and that they attacked his dog. It got hostile and then I got punched and knocked out," Stafford told Eyewitness News in her first interview since the attack. "I woke up a little while later. I didn't remember really what happened."
Stafford claims when she regained consciousness Eulian and his mother helped her up and lied to her about what happened.
"They told me I tripped, fell and hit my head on my car," Stafford said.
Stafford wasn't sure what happened until she watched surveillance footage from the alley.
"I cried. It was really hard to watch," Stafford said.
The defense claims it was Stafford who instigated the confrontation.
"She was belligerent. She was angry. She was hostile," said Eulian's attorney, who alleges that Stafford threw cat kibble in Eulian's face.
Eulian, who is on administrative leave pending the outcome of the trial, is charged with battery causing serious bodily injury and his mother is charged with accessory after the fact. Both have pleaded not guilty.