Woman recovering from brutal, unprovoked attack in Oakland

Oakland woman brutally attacked by group of young people

Amanda Raye, only had to walk a few blocks to make it home after 1 am Saturday morning. She said she had just left a bar and picked up pizza near 17th and Franklin Streets in Oakland, when a group of young people attacked her out of nowhere.

OAKLAND, Calif. - What should have been a quick walk home turned into a violent attack for an Oakland woman early Saturday morning.

Amanda Raye, who declined to share her last name for safety reasons, is recovering at home after she suffered a concussion, cuts to her head, and other injuries. She said her attackers also pulled out a lot of her hair.

Raye said she had been celebrating the Dodger's win at a bar and just picked up pizza around 1 a.m., when she was assaulted out of nowhere near 17th and Franklin Streets in Oakland.

"The next thing I know, someone is hitting me upside the head and a bunch of people are kicking me and beating me," she said.

"The doctors told me that I had 11 lacerations in the back of my head, and a level 2 concussion and they identified multiple bruises," she explained. "Right across here, I have a foot chest mark from someone stomping on my chest."

A nearby camera caught part of the attack, showing a group of people surrounding the victim on the ground.

"They made zero effort to steal anything from me, they did nothing to take anything from me, it was just legitimate hate," Raye said. They kept reiterating, ‘die fat [expletive], stupid fat [expletive],’ as they had their cell phones recording over me, as they kicked me in the face and in the ribs."

Amanda described the group as young people between 17 and 20 years old.
She said she tried her best to fight back.

"What I believed stopped it is I was able to bring one of the guys to the floor, and I bit through his calf," she said. "And then it slowed down from there."

Raye said at one point one of the individuals involved in the attack actually helped her retrieve her phone that the group had smashed, and another yelled for them to stop beating her.

Oakland police said multiple suspects ran to a waiting getaway car.

Raye added that the driver tried to hit her with the vehicle as the group took off.

Paramedics responded around 1:30 a.m., and transported her to a nearby hospital.

Raye said she's disheartened that bystanders ignored her calls for help.

"I ran out into the middle of the street begging for anyone to stop and help me, and cars were speeding past me, honking at me," she said. "It took a while and a young couple stopped to help me."

Raye said she is sharing her story in part to raise awareness about public safety in the area.

"One - I hope that these kids' parents see it and realize I need to help my kid because their kids are going to end up in prison for this kind of behavior," she said. "And two - I don't need this to happen to other people."

Raye, who grew up in Southern California, said she's lived in Oakland for about a year.

"I'm very ready to leave the Bay, I'm scared, I don't feel secure in this neighborhood at all," she said.

Raye said she has since purchased a Taser as protection.

She also met with an OPD investigator Monday, who told her that her case is 15th in the investigation queue, and unfortunately, this kind of violence is very common in the city.

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