LOS ANGELES — A parolee pleaded no contest Tuesday to an allegedly unprovoked attack on an Olympic silver medal-winning volleyball player, who testified in March that she had never seen the man before.
Semeon Tesfamariam, now 53, was immediately sentenced to eight years in state prison following his plea to assault with a deadly weapon along with his admission that he had a prior strike, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Tesfamariam was accused of throwing a 10-inch metal bolt at Kim Glass’ face on July 8, 2022.
Glass, a fitness model and trainer, told CBS Los Angeles the sentence was “like a little slap in the face.” Glass said she’s worried she won’t be Tesfamariam’s last victim.
She said that’s because Tesfamariam may only serve three years because of double credit for the last 15 months he’s already spent in jail and potential incentives for good behavior.
At a March 16 hearing in which Tesfamariam was ordered to stand trial, Glass testified that she was looking at a friend’s new car at Olive and Eighth streets in downtown Los Angeles after eating lunch, and saw Tesfamariam – – whom she identified during the hearing in the downtown Los Angeles courtroom – – scurrying in her direction with a shiny metal object in his hand.
“He was like looking at me, like really deep into my eyes,” she said, indicating that he appeared to be angry and that it looked like he “hated me.”
“I’ve never seen him before in my life,” she said of the defendant, whom she said glared at her but “never said anything to me.”
Glass — who was an outside hitter on the 2008 U.S. Olympic women’s indoor volleyball team — said she thought he might hit her friend’s vehicle.
She testified that she went to turn, saw him move and then felt pain to her head.
“I didn’t know what hit me,” Glass said.
She said she fell after the attack, started seeing blood and saw the bolt on the ground.
She said she…
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