FL- Mother attacked in front of trick-or-treaters

11-5-2008 Florida:

NORTH FORT MYERS, Fla.- A Southwest Florida mom is still shaken after she says she was attacked with a crow bar on Halloween night in front of her children.

Jillian Tomaskovich has no answers as to why she was attacked, "It was just uncalled for... ridiculous. It's Halloween, it's a kids night. Why fight? Why try to hurt people?"

She tells WINK News she was out trick-or-treating with her two young children on Poe Avenue in North Fort Myers when she saw a woman driver arguing with a group of people.

She says she dialed 911 and handed her phone to another woman.

Thinking she was doing the right thing, she tells us she then tried to break up the argument.

"They were scared and I was scared for them. I'd seen it in their face, they were screaming, "The babies, the kids and stop, the kids," recalls Tomaskovich.

She saw the driver had a crow bar, but says she never thought the woman would use it, not with kids around.

She explained, "I walk down and say 'You guys, this isn't the time or place for this, it's Halloween' and she said 'This is none of your business' and that's when I got struck in the head with a crow bar."

She says she not only was hit in the head with the crow bar, but bitten in the thigh by the woman identified by deputies as 20-year-old Doniell Daugherty.

Her kids and other trick-or-treaters saw it all happen.

"The poor kids, my seven year old is distraught, he saw everything," said Tomaskovich.

Deputies say the argument started after neighbors yelled at Daugherty to driver slower.

An arrest report says Daugherty was stopped by the pedestrians who were trick-or-treating and began exchanging vulgarities.

This is the point in the night where Tomaskovich says she encountered the group.

Deputies arrested Daugherty on an aggravated battery with a deadly weapon charge.

Daugherty declined to comment at the request of her attorney.

As for Tomaskovich, she says, "This is just an innocent night out. Now I feel unsafe. I mean next year, what's going to happen next year? I'm not going to go trick or treating." ..News Source.. by WINK News