Both sides talk about alleged assault at candidates forum

Daphne Barak claims she was attacked by Julie Montante after Tuesday’s mayoral candidate forum at the American Legion in Palm Springs.

“She just smacked me and I’m sorry this is not smacked, I just came back from the hospital,” Barak said, showing us the wound on her right cheek.

Barak was at the forum to watch her partner, candidate Bill Gunasti, who happened to have a film crew there documenting the event. The crew took photos of Montante.

“We always have two three cameras working, we have microphones all the time,” Gunasti said.

Barak says the aggression started after she made remarks during some of candidate Ginny Foat’s statements.

“You can’t just wake up one morning and decide to be mayor,” said Foat during her opening statement at the forum.
“Yes you can,” shouted Barak.

“I just screamed back and I said yes you can, this is America and everybody can run for anything,” Barak said of the exchange.

Barak says after the forum ended, Montante attacked her.

Montante paints a different picture. She says Barak was drunk at the event, threw water on her and grabbed her face. Montante says she never hit Barak.

“If daphne did anything to her, which she didn’t, why didn’t she call 911 herself? Why didn’t she go to the hospital herself?” Gunasti said of the accusations.

Barak did call 911 and was treated by officers on the scene. While they began their investigation, Barak said she approached Foat to show her the mark on her face.

“This is what your woman did to me,” Barak claims she said to Foat. “She said, and it’s all documented, ‘You are horrible, you deserved it.”
“You have this on tape? You have her saying this on video?” News Channel 3 asked Barak.
“Yes,” replied Barak.

We asked to see the videos.

“No because I plan to file a criminal and a civil lawsuit and it’s going to be a lot of money,” Barak said.

Montante says she is also thinking about pressing charges.