The woman accused of driving through San Francisco with a city worker on the hood of her car for a mile made her first court appearance Wednesday. 33-year-old Bo Mounsombath is facing three felony charges.
"This defendant is charged with assault, battery and she's also charged with hit and run," said District Attorney's spokesman Alex Bastian.
The incident started last week with a simple parking ticket.
"She was seen taking a street sweeping ticket from the car parked in front of her, she took that ticket, placed it on her windshield, and she was beginning to walk away when the DPT employee saw it, walked up to give her a ticket."
Then investigators say she tried to drive away hitting the parking control officer, who jumped on the hood. She then drove multiple blocks along Oak Street then on Octavia with the officer still on the car. She also allegedly hit a motorcyclist and drove off.
"I just couldn't believe what I was seeing, I had no idea what to make of it," said Allison Yates who saw it happen and took two photos of the car and the officer.
"That car went all the way down to Octavia, and then turned right from the far left lane across about six, there's about six lanes of traffic there. Luckily, no one was moving very fast."
Mounsombath acknowledged to KTVU what happened, with a surprising explanation for why. She said off camera that the parking control officer, who was giving her a ticket, had sexually harassed her. She said he told her that if she gave him her phone number, maybe the ticket would go away.
Mounsombath added she was scared for her safety and trying to escape.
"I heard her screaming, he's scaring me! I remember yelling, he's scaring you? You're going to kill this guy," exclaimed Yates.
Prosecutors will be looking into the allegations of sexual harassment.
"We take all of these allegation seriously. Knowing that some may in fact be true, and some may in fact be completely false," explained Bastian.
Yates described a moment when the officer could have gotten off the hood.
"The woman from the car had gotten out of the car, and was standing in the street, and kind of screaming."
Muni Spokesman Paul Rose told KTVU the sexual harassment allegation is inconsistent with the officer's character.
D.A. Spokesman Bastian warned such erratic driving behavior is extremely dangerous.
"Anytime you drive with someone on the hood of your car, you don't know what's going to happen. And this is something that could have been a horrendous situation for everyone involved."
Mounsombath pleaded not guilty, her next court date is October 7th. Because of this case, prosecutors have asked for her probation from a misdemeanor petty theft case to be revoked.
She told KTVU that on Tuesday, she lost a freelance job as a stylist because of the notoriety of this case.
Source : http://www.ktvu.com/news/news/crime-law/woman-accused-driving-city-worker-hood-car-pleads-/nhTh7/
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