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Police seek man seen punching woman in the face on cellphone video

Posted at 10:49 PM, Mar 08, 2019
and last updated 2019-03-08 22:49:42-05

SAN DIEGO - A woman punched in the face while trying to break up an argument in the Gaslamp Quarter of San Diego is sharing her side of the story as police ask for the public's help to identify her attacker.

Looking back at cellphone video of the punch for the first time made Jessica Cox emotional to say the least.

“I almost threw up. It made me completely sick to my stomach,” Cox said. “It hurt. I fell back, but there was so much adrenaline running through me that, at that time, that’s not what mattered to me."

Cox said she had just wrapped up dinner with friends and was walking home when she heard two people arguing.

“I said, 'you cannot hit a woman. I’ve already called 911. You’re scaring everybody. Please stop, go' and that’s when he goes, 'OK, I’ll hit you.' And that’s kind of how that went,” Cox said.

Related: Man recorded punching two young women after dispute over hot dog

Cox said that's when people nearby jumped in to help.

“Thankfully that happened because I don’t think he would have stopped,” Cox said.

After the attack, video shows the man yelling at people and continuing to argue with his fiancee, asking her for his ring back.

Police said the man left before they got there. Officers said his fiancee stayed but would not give up his identity.

Cox is still healing from the punch. She has a black eye but is thankful no bones were broken.

When asked if she would do it all over again, Cox said this:

“I would like to think that maybe I would step back maybe on the second time, but in the beginning, no. I would always step in to save somebody.”