Louboutin Shoes Weapon In S.F. Beating Mystery
Never get between a woman and her designer shoes.
That is the lesson learned the hard way by San Francisco restaurant manager Matt Meidinger, who alleges he was struck in the head with Christian Louboutin shoes by a blond woman who fled the scene in a cab.
The lesson for the shoe-wielding suspect? In an age of Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, you're never anonymous.
The alleged assault took place over the weekend but has unfolded over social media this week after Meidinger tweeted a picture of his assailant, along with a description of his injury - a cracked skull - and offered a $500 reward for her name.
"…this woman smashed me in the head with her heels and jumped in a cab…spent the night in the ER," Meidinger tweeted on Sunday.
He says, in an account given to the foodie site Grub Street San Francisco, that the woman, said to be in her 20s, became outraged when a pedestrian accidentally kicked one of her Christian Louboutin heels as she was changing into her flip-flops outside the Balboa Café late Saturday night.
The heels, made famous by their red soles and appearances in shows like "Sex and the City," can cost upwards of $1,000 per pair.
According to Meidinger, the woman began yelling at the pedestrian. When the pedestrian turned to apologize, the woman's male companion punched him in the face, and Meidinger intervened.
"I spoke up and said, 'Whoa! Take it easy! Kicking a shoe doesn't equal a punch in the face, Louboutins or not!,'" Meidinger told Grub Street. "As the guy turned around to tell me to mind my own business, the woman ran up and said, 'Yes it does!' and came down on top of my head with her heels.'"
Meidinger's tweets drew local and even international attention and, by Wednesday, Meidinger had the name of his high-heel perp.
"I'm happy to have obtained information about the woman and have given the information to the authorities," Meidinger told Grub Street.
Now San Francisco authorities are searching for the red-soled assailant who could face time in prison if convicted.
"At this point we're looking at it as a possible aggravated assault which is anywhere between three and five years," San Francisco Police Sgt. Michael Andraychak told ABC News.
Police, still not commenting on whether the suspect has been apprehended or questioned, say the woman's Louboutin heels were not just a high-cost accessory, but a weapon of choice.
"In this particular case, where it caused a serious laceration to the victim, it was in fact used as a weapon," said Sgt. Darryl Fong.
While the search continues, defenders of the woman, whose name has not been disclosed, are speaking out with her side of the story.
"She and her friends were accosted first and she was trying to get the man to stop punching her husband in the face," an anonymous tipster, said to be an acquaintance of the suspect's sister, told Grub Street on Thursday.