A woman who will have to have her eye removed after she was viciously attacked at a Pompano Beach park says not enough was done to protect her.
Da Juan Denise Johnson was working in the middle of the night cleaning bathrooms at Weaver Park to support her young daughter when police say a man stabbed her multiple times.
Johnson and her attorney claim the City of Pompano Beach should have know about security problems and didn't act.
"It's not safe for people out there and they need light and security," Johnson said.
The homeless man charged with attacking her, 22-year-old Davonte Shanard Johnson, is charged with attempted murder in the stabbing, which happened just over two weeks ago.
"We are tussling with the knife and my hand goes down the knife and I look down and something says look up and he stabs me in my eye," Johnson told NBC 6.
Johnson said she warned her employer, a contractor hired by the City, that the situation at Weaver and other parks was dangerous.
Local
"It's plenty of nights I have texted her or sent her pictures of the park black, pitch black, no lights," she said. "And it's plenty of times I open these bathroom doors and there are homeless people in them."
Johnson says the lock on the gate at the park where she fought for her life had been broken for several weeks.
"So I get out, I just pushed the gate open because there is not a lock on it but before there was a lock," she said. "I told my employer, I text her or told her face to face when I pick up my supplies on Friday that the lock is missing."
Johnson's attorney, Michael Elstein, has notified Pompano Beach they intend to sue. He says his client and the general public appear to have been at risk.
"That here may be issues potentially with the fact that the park was unsecured. And that the fence had locks on it that were not operable or not working and or missing," Elstein said. "You have these parks now that are potentially open to homeless people or anybody to ingress and egress out of in the middle of the night without lighting in and of it self presents security issues."
Johnson caring for her daughter will get her though the devastation of losing her eye during surgery Tuesday. The city nor her employer responded to NBC 6 Monday.
Davonte Johnson is presumed innocent and gets his day in court.
The medical bills for Da Juan Denise Johnson are staggering and some residents are already donating to an account set up for her. To help, visit www.elsteinlaw.com or call 954-928-0990 or 866-475-HELP.
