Woman suffers 'significant' facial injuries in attack at New Kensington park, police say

A woman suffered significant injuries to her face after another woman hit her with a liquor bottle in a New Kensington park, according to city police.

New Kensington police charged Rita Marie Woody, 33, of New Kensington with a single first-degree felony count of aggravated assault for the attack they say happened Saturday at Parnassus Park.

Police said they were dispatched after a firefighter stopped to check on a woman, who told officers she had been drinking in the park about four hours earlier when she was assaulted by a woman who was in the park with her children.

The woman said Woody hit her in the head and face with a large liquor bottle, according to a criminal complaint. Police said her injuries included cuts to her nose and above her left eye, and that her left eye was so swollen that she could not see out of it.

Because of the severity of her injuries, the woman was taken to the trauma center at Forbes Regional Hospital, police said.

Police believed Woody to be the assailant based on the alleged victim’s description of her. Police said the woman confirmed Woody as her attacker after being shown her photo from Facebook, the complaint states.

Police said they found Woody at her home. According to the criminal complaint, Woody said she punched the woman in the nose after the woman spat on one of her children.

Woody was being held in the Westmoreland County Jail on $10,000 bond. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 10 before New Kensington District Judge Frank J. Pallone Jr.