10-year-old's head slammed into display at Somerset Mall: 'I didn't do anything to her'
TROY, Mich. (FOX 2) - Sophia Simpson, 10, is still recovering after an adult woman randomly slammed her head into a cookie display at Somerset Mall in Troy.
The incident took place last Friday as Sophia waited in line for a cookie from Mrs. Fields at the mall, according to police. She was there with a group of friends and one of their dads.
"She took her hand in the back of my neck and slammed it into the glass," Sophia said. "The car ride back, oh my gosh, it was terrible. I was so dizzy. I was actually really tired too."
The attacker is allegedly 25-year-old Reanna Valentine of Detroit.
"I checked my phone and then… that woman came up and hit my head against the glass," Sophia said. "I started crying and then she turns around, she starts laughing at me, and then she puts on her mask and runs away."
"Like why? I don't know why, I mean i didn't do anything to her," she continued.
Police said the incident seemed to be "unprovoked and for no apparent reason."
Surveillance video shows that Simpson did nothing wrong to provoke Valentine.
"They reviewed the footage from when the woman first walked in the mall all the way to where the incident occurred, and they said there was nothing," Sophia's father, Nick Simpson. "There's no explanation for why she did this."
Nearly a week later, Sophia continues to experience headaches and bouts of dizziness due to the attack.
"For a grown woman to hit a child, is just – doesn't make sense to me," said Brittany Simpson, Sophia's mom. "I can't understand why she would do that."
The parents were out of the country when the attack took place.
"(I was) just shocked," Nick said. "I had to sit down and try to collect my nerves (I was) a little angry and everything was just all at once."
Sophia was able to give secuity a description of Valentine, who came back to the mall a day later – that’s when police arrested her.
Valentine faces a misdemeanor charge for simple assault. She was released on personal bond, but the judge put her on a tether – a rarity for this charge.
Valentine has also been banned from Somerset Mall.
"Now it can't happen to anybody else," Sophia said.
FOX 2 reached out to Valentine multiple times for comment but did not receive a response.