Woman Arrested in Assault of Fountain Valley Officer

FOUNTAIN VALLEY —  Police officers subdued and arrested a woman Monday after she kicked one officer in the groin and lunged toward him with a 13-inch butcher knife.

Christie Lynn Slater, 20, who is four months pregnant, was booked into the Central Women’s Jail on charges of assault and battery on a police officer, Lt. Mike Hanrahan said. Hanrahan lauded the officers’ handling of the situation, which he said could have led to the justified use of deadly force against the woman.

“We were very pleased with the fact that restraint was used. It caused the officers to keep struggling to disarm her,” he said. “When she raised the knife, [one officer] was on his back. He was starting to anticipate that he might have to shoot her.”

No one was injured in the incident, Hanrahan said.

Slater was arguing with her ex-fiance over the breakup of the relationship, Hanrahan said. Neighbors who heard the couple fighting about noon Monday called police.

When a pair of officers responded to the home in the 16300 block of San Gabriel Street, the man let them in and officers found Slater crouched with the knife.

“She was ordered to drop it,” Hanrahan said. “She was irrational, saying she wanted to die.”

Officers tried subduing Slater with pepper spray after she began kicking and refused to drop the weapon, but the spray had surprisingly little effect, Hanrahan said.

At that point, Slater kicked the male officer in the groin several times, knocking him backward.

“She raised her hand, holding the knife,” Hanrahan said. “He expected he would be stabbed.”

The officer’s female partner managed to grab Slater before she reached the disabled officer, and police eventually handcuffed her.

Slater is being held on $10,000 bail.