18-year-old attacked by stranger in downtown Pittsburgh

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) – A young woman is speaking out after she was attacked by a stranger in downtown Pittsburgh.

The 18-year-old was not only injured in the attack, she is also traumatised and wanted to tell her story as concerns about safety on Smithfield Street grow.

Sofia Mancing is back home in Butler County for the summer. She is a sophomore at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, but is interning between semesters at Flying Scooter Productions in downtown Pittsburgh.

Mancing said she left around 5 p.m. on Wednesday and walked to a bus stop on Smithfield Street toward Sixth Avenue when a woman randomly hit her on the back of the head with a shoe. Mancing said she kept walking.

“She followed me down the street to Strawberry Way. She grabbed me by my hair, pulled me into the street and pushed me to the ground. Then she started punching and kicking me in the face, the back of my head, my shoulders and my back. And at some point she dragged me even further into the street,” Mancing said.

Mancing went to the hospital. She has a concussion and a broken nose.

The attack occurred just two blocks from Flying Scooter Productions, where it began a week ago.

“There were a lot of people there who didn’t do anything,” Mancing said. “That’s the only thing I’m really angry about: that no one helped me. It was a horrible feeling not being able to defend myself, and I guess why was I such a dude out of everyone on the street that day.”

According to the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, Shurontaya Festa is the person who attacked Mancing. Festa was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and disturbing the peace.

The criminal complaint states that the attack was recorded by a city camera. Police say the video clearly shows that Festa intended to seriously injure Mancing.

Mancing told KDKA-TV that she felt helpless.

“I felt completely alone and on my own at that moment, as a young woman, and that will stay with me for a while,” she said.

The co-owners of Flying Scooter Productions sent a statement to KDKA-TV, saying they opened the company’s doors in downtown Pittsburgh seven years ago and have observed a steady rise in crime, drug dealing and homelessness in the area.

The statement also said: “We are fed up with the outrageous oversight and performative rhetoric. We call on elected officials to do what is necessary to make Pittsburgh safe – because whatever they tell you – it is far from it.”

“I just want someone to make a real effort and make visible changes. It’s not helpful to promise change and then not see it,” Mancing said.

Although Mancing is hesitant to return to the city center, she will go back to work. But she will no longer take the bus and hopes to carpool with a colleague from now on.

“I hope people are more aware of the dangers in the city center. I was completely naive about the situation and I think I could have been better prepared,” Mancing said.

“I was nervous earlier in the day because Smithfield Street was lined with people fainting or stumbling around,” she added.

KDKA-TV has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment. We received a statement from Pittsburgh’s Director of Safety Lee Schmidt, who said isolated incidents like this can happen anywhere. He encourages people to speak up if they see something.