LOS ANGELES, Calif. — A Los Angeles firefighter pleaded not guilty today to assault and battery in an off-duty dispute with a woman who was feeding stray cats in his neighborhood.
Ian Justin Eulian, 37, is charged in the Sept. 14 encounter with one felony count each of battery with serious bodily injury and assault by means likely to produce great bodily injury. A preliminary hearing is set for Nov. 20.
Eulian’s mother, 70-year-old Lonieta Antoinetta Fontaine, is scheduled to be arraigned Friday on the same charges.
Eulian allegedly started arguing with a 47-year-old woman who was feeding cats in a cul-de-sac abutting the south side of the Santa Monica (10) Freeway, just east of La Brea Avenue, shortly after midnight that Saturday.
When the woman threw some cat kibble at Eulian, he allegedly leaned into her car in the 2500 block of West View Street and punched her.
Eulian’s mother allegedly slapped the woman several times, and her son allegedly pulled her out of her car and punched her again at least once more before she went limp and fell.
When the woman came around, Eulian and his mother helped her into her car and drove her home, telling her that she tripped and hit her face on her car, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
A video camera on a nearby building recorded the confrontation, police said.
The spokesperson for the Los Angeles Fire Department was unavailable for comment early this afternoon.
