The defense argued that an assault victim involved in a stabbing was “lying” during opening statements of a trial before DC Superior Court Judge Robert Salerno on April 2.
Stephanie Fawbush, 51, is charged with two counts of assault with a dangerous weapon with aggravating circumstances of the victim being a Metro Transit Officer or station manager and threatening to kidnap or injure a person. The charges stem from her alleged involvement in a stabbing that occurred on the 900 block of 17th Street, NW, on Aug. 14, 2023.
The prosecution laid out the timeline of events during their opening statement, explaining the assault victim’s first encounter with Fawbush.
“You’re gonna die,” the prosecution quoted, recounting what Fawbush had told the assault victim in July 2023.
The prosecution said when the assault victim saw Fawbush again that August, she tried to look away. Fawbush approached her and the assault victim took steps back to create distance and deescalate the situation. The prosecution stated that Fawbush continued to approach the woman before striking her in the arm and assaulting her. The assault victim fought back, resulting in both women falling to the ground.
The prosecution explained that’s when the stabbing victim came and separated the two. They stated that the attack could’ve ended there, but Fawbush lunged at the assault victim. The stabbing victim intervened and Fawbush struck him in the arm with a pair of scissors, showing the scissors to the jury.
The prosecution stated the assault victim went to get help while Fawbush crossed the street and went to a restaurant.
The defense says that’s not what happened.
“It was the third hit that knocked the fan out of her hand,” Fawbush’s attorney, Tammy Thom, told the jury.
Thom described her client as the victim of a physical assault, telling the jury that the assault victim hit Fawbush in the face with her fan. She said that when Fawbush knocked the fan out of the assault victim’s hand, she grabbed Fawbush’s arm and twisted it behind her back.
“[Fawbush] didn’t [stab] out of anger,” Thom stated, “she did it because it was the only thing she could do.”
Thom pointed out how the assault victim didn’t initially mention having the fan when testifying before the grand jury in December 2023, only remembering it after being shown a video of the incident.
“She didn’t remember,” Thom told the jury, “she lied.”
The prosecution called the assault victim to testify. She told the jury that she was waiting for her bus when Fawbush walked by. She kept an eye on Fawbush, recognizing her from their previous encounter.
During the first unwitnessed encounter, the assault victim said that Fawbush told her she had a message for her, “You’re gonna die today b****.”
“You first,” the assault victim replied before telling Fawbush to back away. She stated that she didn’t report the threat to anyone, thinking nothing of it until she encountered Fawbush again.
She stated she was on the phone with Washington Metro Area Transit Authority (WMATA) when she noticed Fawbush walk by. She kept an eye on Fawbush, feeling worried. She said she started walking the other direction when Fawbush started approaching her, not wanting to interact with her.
“I’m not a mean person,” she said, “I wanted her out of my space.”
The assault victim recalled turning to face Fawbush, extending her arm to create space between them. She stated that she felt irritated and wanted to know why this was happening before Fawbush swung at her.
“When she swung, I swung and we got to tusseling,” the assault victim said.
She stated that’s when the stabbing victim, another bus driver, came to help, stepping between them and separating them with his arms out. She told transit central command to call the police as the stabbing victim tried to convince her to get on his bus and leave. She said no, looking away at a supervisor who was down the street nearby.
She recalled hearing Fawbush call her a “b****” before Fawbush allegedly lunged from the ground, trying to go under the stabbing victim’s arm to get to her. She stated Fawbush held “something pointy,” taking a step back when Fawbush tried to reach for her with the pointy object.
The assault victim stated she didn’t know if Fawbush made contact with anyone using the pointy object. She watched as Fawbush stood up and crossed the street to a restaurant where she lit a cigarette.
The assault victim stated that she had to go to physical therapy and see a work-provided therapist for months after the incident. When she tried to go back to the scene, she stated that it wasn’t “difficult” per se but “It just brought back everything [she] went through.”
On cross-examination, Thom asked the assault victim if she remembered telling the police that Fawbush had a shiny object concealed in her palm, the victim said no she remembered it being between her fingers.
Thom approached the victim with a Metro employee incident report she filled out. Prosecutors objected to this, but Judge Salerno let her approach anyway.
Thom asked the assault victim if she remembered writing this report right after it happened, so it was fresh on her mind. The assault victim responded with yes.
Thom read the report, in which the assault victim wrote down that Fawbush lunged at her and swung at her. The assault victim admitted in her testimony that after watching the video, she now sees that Fawbush did not lunge at her, but that she thought it to be true when writing the report. In reference to the swinging, the assault victim clarified that she meant when Fawbush swung at her fan.
Thom asked the assault victim if Metro employees have to take a de-escalation course, to which she responded yes. Thom showed her a de-escalation pamphlet. The assault victim told her that she had never seen that before because their de-escalation course is with police officers on site, they never receive any sort of pamphlet.
The prosecution then called the stabbing victim to the stand. The day of the incident, he said he was a WMATA employee approaching his bus to sanitize it before continuing the route, when he saw two women yelling and cursing at each other.
He told prosecutors that his main focus was sanitizing the bus as fast as he could and getting it back on route, so his attention to the two women was not full. The last time he glanced at them to see what was going on, he saw the two of them on the ground tusseling. That was when he stepped off the bus to try and separate the two of them.
Prosecutors asked him about how tall he was compared to everyone else in the incident and he said that he was “six foot one” the other Metro employee was “probably about five foot seven” and the other woman was “around five foot three.”
They continued to ask him why he would intervene and he answered that he knew the assault victim and he was worried for her. He tried to step in between them and seperate them said the stabbing victim, and he thought he got them about two to three feet away from each other.
He recalled the other woman lunging towards the assault victim and then walking off cursing. It was not until after that when he realized he had been stabbed.
Due to time constraints, parties will reconvene on April 6 to continue cross-examination of the witness.
