The girlfriend and witness to the death of Philando Castile last year was recently arrested in an attack on a woman in St. Paul, Minn.
Prosecutors on Friday charged Diamond “Lavish” Reynolds with felony assault in an alleged attack with a hammer.
Reynolds is the woman who live-streamed the horrific death of her boyfriend Philando Castile by a police officer during a traffic stop in front of her 4-year-old daughter. Officer Jeronimo Yanez has been charged with manslaughter for the high-profile case.
The 27-year-old has said that she has faced post-traumatic stress disorder, unemployment and eviction after recording the high-profile case, an act that the governor of Minnesota called “heroic.”
In the alleged attack, TwinCities.com reports that a 24-year-old identified only as Y.G. suffered serious injury after Reynolds and at least two other women jumped her. They were all arrested Thursday.
The woman, who apparently had an earlier altercation with one of the women involved, reported that she’d been driving when she noticed a sport-utility vehicle make a U-turn and follow her.
After she parked, she said that Reynolds and another woman, 28-year-old Chnika Blair, came at her. Reynolds ran up and punched her in the head with a closed fist while Blair grabbed her hair, according to the complaint.
Reynolds allegedly hit the woman in the head with a hammer, knocking her to the ground, and continued to strike her in the head with the hammer when she was on the ground, the complaint continued. The woman said she “blacked out for a moment” and then saw Reynolds striking her vehicle’s windshield, which broke.
Another vehicle pulled up, and a woman she knew as Dyamond Richardson, 25, got out, chased her down and sprayed bear repellent at her, according to the complaint. The suspects then left in two vehicles with seven or eight people between them.
Reynolds was charged with second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon and third-degree assault—inflicting substantial bodily harm. Richardson and Blair were charged with aiding and abetting second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon, and aiding and abetting third-degree assault.
After police arrested Richardson, she told them about the past conflict between her and the victim’s friend, who allegedly came to her workplace and started a fight with her and damaged her vehicle.
The Ramsey County, Minn., Attorney’s Office has asked the state’s Washington County to handle the case to avoid a conflict of interest. Reynolds is listed as a victim and witness in Ramsey County’s case against Officer Yanez.
Reynolds is scheduled to make her first court appearance in the case Monday.
Read more at TwinCities.com.