ANTIOCH — A 19-year-old Antioch woman said an attack at a hamburger restaurant where she worked last weekend has left her without a right eye.
“I’m doing OK. I just have a bad headache now,” Bianca Palomera, 19, said by phone Thursday regarding her recovery from the Nov. 12 attack inside The Habit Burger Grill on Mahogany Way at Sycamore Avenue. “I don’t really know what to say. I’m glad the story is getting out there, and that we might be able to get some help.”
A GoFundMe fundraising campaign started by Bianca’s sister, Erika Palomera, had received about $33,200 by 1:30 p.m. Thursday.
Erika Palomera said video of the attack and the getaway of the suspects on her social media pages were from a cell phone used by a worker in the store.
Antioch police did not respond immediately Thursday to inquiries about the incident.
Messages left at the corporate headquarters of The Habit Burger Grill also were not returned immediately, but Bianca Palomera said representatives from the restaurant’s national leadership had reached out to her to offer support.
Bianca Palomera said she was working a shift in her role as assistant manager about 5:30 p.m. when she asked a man inside the restaurant and three others to stop harassing another person. According to her sister, the bullying had been directed at a special needs boy.
The man responded by going after Bianca. Cell-phone video taken from inside the store showed the man punching her hard in the face, as well as a vehicle that he used to arrive at the restaurant.
Bianca Palomera said she didn’t realize right away that she was severely injured.
“I thought I was just crying,” she said. “Then I realized blood was dripping down my face and shirt.”
The injured woman underwent emergency surgery, but said doctors couldn’t save the eye. She has been released from the hospital and is adjusting to a major change in her life; she said doctors have told her that her best option is to use a prosthetic.
Anyone with information can contact Antioch police at 925-779-6900.
Please check back for updates.
Source: www.mercurynews.com