‘Disbelief’: Victim describes Big Fresno Fair assault shown in viral video
By Marco Rosas,
1 days ago
FRESNO, Calif. ( KSEE/KGPE ) – The woman shown being assaulted at the Big Fresno Fair in a now-viral video says she wants justice – and wants the people watching the video to learn from her situation the next time they are forced into a public confrontation.
The victim, 18-year-old Kathrine Vang, says she and her friends were standing in line for a ride at the fair when a woman and her two children slowly tried to make their way in front of the group.
“One of my friends and [the woman] were going back and forth just scooting in front of each other,” Vang said. “Until the lady eventually turns around and says something very aggressive to my friend.”
Vang describes herself as very soft-spoken, the youngest of her siblings, but she says the woman’s aggression toward her friend made her take a stand and confront the woman.
“She said something along the lines of, like, oh, you’re getting too close to me little girl, you better back off or I’m going to get really irritated,” Vang said.
Vang says she and the woman started arguing back and forth – while she kept switching up her story.
“Eventually, she turns to me, makes a comment, turns away, and probably [didn’t] think that I was going to defend myself,” Vang said.
“But I did. So I made a remark towards her, and then that’s when she turned around and she started strangling me and told me, ‘say it again to my face, keep talking’.”
Vang says the woman’s children eventually talked their mother down and pulled her off of Vang, that’s when Vang reached for her phone to take a picture of the woman.
Vang says the woman slapped the phone out of her hand, breaking the front of it.
Vang says the ordeal was surreal and traumatic – and not only for her.
“Her daughter apologized and her son was like, man, I don’t even want to get on this ride anymore,” Vang said. “As an adult and especially if you’re you’re at the fair with your kids, you automatically have the responsibility of being a role model.”
After the assault, Vang says she told law enforcement at the fair and tried to go on with the rest of her night despite the distressing event.
“I still am very much in disbelief. Like, did it really happen?” Vang said. “I’ve been having trouble sleeping. I feel like that’s just because I keep constantly thinking about it. What could I have done better? Like, why did this happen to me?”
But Vang says she is sure she did the right thing by standing up for herself. The video of the assault has received a lot of attention on social media. Some of that attention, Vang says, has been negative and unhelpful.
“I’m very grateful for all the support that I’m getting online. I’ve seen a lot of like, hateful comments as well,” Vang said. “This video is not about race. It’s about the fact that when you get confronted, you don’t resort to violence.”
Vang hopes the Fresno Police Department will help bring closure to this incident by finding the woman responsible.
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