Woman Is Jailed After 2 El Cajon Police Officers Are Slashed

A 33-year-old woman was jailed Thursday on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon after slashing an El Cajon police sergeant and a reserve officer with a razor blade when they attempted to question her, police said.

Rebecca Sue Denoma, identified as a transient, was herself injured in the struggle to subdue her, police said. Denoma was treated at San Diego Physicians & Surgeons Hospital for a broken elbow and bruises on her arms, the result of blows received from police batons during the scuffle, Sgt. Larry Wood said.

Wood and Reserve Officer Ray Hubbard were slashed Wednesday night after they approached Denoma following complaints about a woman behaving bizarrely, police said. The officers found Denoma behind a gas station in the 900 block of Broadway, they said.

“When contacted, she began to yell and act in an irrational manner and attempted to flee from the officers,” according to a statement released by the Police Department. “Sgt. Wood blocked her path with his vehicle. Wood exited his vehicle and attempted to contact the subject, at which time she slashed at Hubbard, cutting him on the left forearm, and then slashed at Officer Wood, cutting him on the right forearm.”

Wood said that, at that point, the officers moved in with batons. Both of the officers’ cuts required stitches, he said.

Denoma was taken to the Hillcrest mental hospital for evaluation before being booked into the County Jail at Las Colinas.