A woman was arrested last week after a melee broke out in a vehicle following a trip to the Umatilla Dollar General store.
A witness said the altercation turned physical last Wednesday night when 18-year-old Gilliyan Gabriella Cortez-Gieras, of Umatilla, allegedly reached up from the back seat and slapped the front-seat passenger in the face. The victim told deputies she had gotten into an earlier verbal altercation with Cortez-Gieras and had been punched in the nose with a closed fist. She also claimed that Cortez-Gieras made statements “wishing death” upon her and her unborn child, a sheriff’s office report states.
After being read her rights, Cortez-Gieras admitted to battering the woman during the verbal altercation by “using an open hand to simply push the victim’s face away from her own.” She added that she knew the other woman was about five months pregnant, the report says.
Cortez-Gieras was then taken into custody and transported to the Marion County Jail, where she was charged with aggravated battery on a pregnant victim. She was being held on $5,000 bond and is due in court Dec. 23 at 9 a.m.