Police are looking for Latia Harris, who they believe beat and kicked a 27-year-old woman while several bystanders videotaped the assault. Police in New Jersey are looking for a 25-year-old woman who they believe beat and kicked a mother until she was bloody and disoriented in front of her 2-year-old son while several bystanders videotaped the attack, the New York Daily News reports.
Authorities believe that Latia Harris attacked the 27-year-old mother Tuesday for allegedly spreading rumors about her at her job. Harris can be seen in the video wearing a McDonald's uniform and punching, kicking and verbally assaulting the woman, who lay on the ground covering her face, according to the Daily News. Several bystanders who witnessed the brutal assault whipped out their cellphones—not to call the police but to videotape the incident.
"There is a moral and social breakdown in the fabric of our society, which is clearly evident when a woman gets pummeled in broad daylight in front of her child while a dozen people pull out their phones to record the incident instead of calling for help," John J. Pelura III, chief of the Salem, N.J., police department, said in a statement viewed by the Daily News. "There is so little regard for human life—by the actor and the bystanders."
The woman's 2-year-old son can be seen kicking in Harris' direction, trying to stop the attack. At one point Harris tells the woman, who is still on the ground, "You better get your son before I kick him in the [expletive] face, too."
After beating the mother and unleashing an expletive-laced verbal assault, Harris spits on the woman. According to the Daily News, police said that Harris asked those who videotaped the assault not to post the footage on social media.
Harris is facing charges of "aggravated assault and two counts of making terroristic threats, and additional charges may be pending," police told the Daily News. The video has been posted to several social media sites, including Worldstarhiphop and Facebook.
Police told the Daily News that the mother was found "covered in blood" and was "disoriented, confused and bleeding from the face." She was treated for her injuries at a local hospital and because of the attack now has limited vision in her left eye, according to a complaint filed by police.
Police told the news site that Harris has yet to be apprehended and has not returned to work since the incident.
Anyone with information on Harris' location is asked to call Salem police at 856-935-0057.
