Manhattan Beach Supermarket Assault: Woman Sentenced To Community Service For Attack

TORRANCE, CA -- A 20-year-old woman who clobbered a man with a metal club outside a Manhattan Beach supermarket pleaded no contest Wednesday to an assault charge.

Latheda September Butler was immediately sentenced to 60 days of community service and three years probation following her plea to a misdemeanor count of assault with a deadly weapon, according to Ricardo Santiago of the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office.

A second charge -- attempted petty theft of baby formula -- was dismissed as a result of the Los Angeles resident's plea.

Butler saw herself on a news broadcast and surrendered last month

at the Los Angeles Police Department's 77th Street Station, according to Manhattan Beach police Sgt. Tim Zins.

The attack occurred about 5:30 p.m. Jan. 4, when two suspects were seen shopliftingat a Ralphs supermarket in the 2700 block of North Sepulveda Boulevard, according to the sergeant.

"A witness observed two female suspects shoplifting," Zins said previously. "When the suspects noticed they were being watched, they fled from the store."

When the witness followed the suspects out to see what vehicle they would get into, the suspects tried to hide the vehicle's license plate and one of them -- later identified as Butler -- became irate and whacked the man over the head with a metal club, Zins said. Both suspects escaped in a car, but the other woman has not been found, according to police.

The witness ended up with a bump on his head, but wasn't hospitalized, according to Zins.

-- City News Service, photo courtesy of the Manhattan Beach Police Department