Full Notification

This morning, at about 9:30am, the Sebastopol Police Dispatch Center received calls reporting an assault at the Sebastopol Memorial Lawn. As the dispatcher was broadcasting the information, Motor Officer Joe Furry was flagged over by witnesses as he drove through the area.

He found the victim, a 60 year old Sebastopol resident, on the ground being tended to by several members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 3919, who were in the area preparing for a Memorial Day event.

According to witness and victim statements, the female suspect, later identified as Holly Mae Lewis, unprovokedly attacked the victim after the suspect was unable to locate a relative's gravesite.

According to the victim and a witness, Lewis made a racially charged remark regarding the victim's manner of speech just prior to the attack.

Lewis repeatedly punched and kicked the victim in the head until Lewis was subdued by members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

Lewis then fled the scene in a blue van. Witnesses were able to provide a possible suspect license plate. The license plate the witnesses provided was not in the DMV files. However, Dispatcher Tracy Peters used different combination of the numbers and letters provided, along with the last name on the suspect's relative's gravesite, to discover the correct license plate, which led to the suspect's identification.

Officers contacted Lewis at her Santa Rosa residence and took her into custody after a short interview. She was booked into the Sonoma County Jail on charges of 245(a)(1)PC - Assault with a Deadly Weapon other than a Firearm, and 422.7(a)PC - Hate Crime with violence. Her bail was set at $30,000.00.