Woman Attacked In Downtown Pittsburgh In Broad Daylight

PITTSBURGH, PA — A woman has been arrested and faces criminal charges in connection with the beating of a stranger on a Downtown Pittsburgh street during Wednesday's afternoon rush hour.

Shurontaya Festa, 27, was charged with aggravated assault and disorderly conduct, according to court records.

Festa is accused of attacking Sofia Mancing, 18, of Butler, from behind as Mancing walked on Smithfield Street near Strawberry Way - a site of numerous incidents requiring a police presence in recent months.

Mancing is a college student who has a summer internship with Flying Scooter Productions, whose Fifth Avenue offices are close to where the alleged attack occurred. The production company issued a statement saying that Mancing suffered a concussion and broken nose after she was pushed to the ground, repeatedly punched and kicked and dragged into traffic by her hair.

"As business owners who have been Downtown since we opened seven years ago, we have seen the steady, unmanaged and unprecedented increase in crime, prostitution, drug dealing and homelessness while our city officials do nothing," Flying Scooter owners Courtney Gumpf and Jennifer Schlieper said in the statement.

"Every day we see people laying in the streets, people dealing drugs, defecting, urination and fighting happening right outside our doors.

"When will this end?"

Pittsburgh Public Safety Director Lee Schmidt issued a statement saying in part that such incidents can occur anywhere and urged people to report any suspicious behavior that they see.

Festa currently is being housed in the Allegheny County Jail. She faces a preliminary hearing on June 13.