A GoFundMe campaign to help a local woman who was attacked and stabbed in her Santa Monica apartment quickly surpassed its goals and raised $15,000 in just one day. The fundraiser for Leigh Collins is no longer accepting donations.
“As scary as it was, I came out on the winning side of it and I’m going to be okay,” Collins said in a video posted from the hospital on the fundraising page. “I appreciate all of the calls and the prayers.”
Police say DNA evidence collected at the scene led them to 25-year-old Rashad Harris, who was on probation for a separate break-in when Santa Monica police arrested him Tuesday. Harris is currently held on $1.1 million bail and is due back in court April 10.
Collins said she was asleep in her apartment early Friday morning near Santa Monica High School when a man broke in, held her at knifepoint and demanded money.
“I gave him money and he attempted to rape me and I was able to fight him off,” Collins said. “I’m doing fine. I’m healing. I’m at the hospital, obviously.”
The man ran off after Collins fought back. He was injured during the scuffle and left a trail of blood outside the apartment on the 1700 block of 5th Street. SMDP officers were waiting when Harris met with his probation officer in Van Nuys Tuesday in the San Fernando Valley and arrested him there.
Collins was cut twice in the forehead and had a black eye after the attack but is expected to make a full recovery.
“I know everyone is really scared and I wanted to call each of you individually and make sure you know that everything is going to be alright,” Collins said. “I wish I could be with all of you.”
kate@www.smdp.com
