On the morning of October 25, Sava Lelcaj Farah was attacked in her car in the parking lot behind her namesake S. State restaurant. According to her husband, attorney William Farah, the man slashed his wife’s tires then broke her window and stabbed at her. She slid away and kicked at him, and when a nearby construction worker ran over, her assailant took off. Police arrested Javon Williams nearby after a brief struggle. He was wearing body armor and carrying two knives.

Farah describes the attack as the culmination of more than two weeks of stalking and harassment—and two weeks of the couple trying to get the police to arrest Williams. “Police were told that it was the guy that slashed tires and broke into the restaurant,” he writes to the Observer, “and they did NOTHING.”

Interim police chief Aimee Metzer disputes that. A detective was assigned, she emails, and officers “did attempt to locate the suspect during the two-week period prior to Sava being assaulted but, unfortunately, were unable to.” 

William Farah thinks they might have done more if not for progressive prosecutor Eli Savit. “What I have heard directly from the police is, ‘If we don’t have a bulletproof case with this prosecutor, nothing will happen,’” he says.

Savit says that while he can’t go into specifics, “it is no way true that our office requires a ‘bulletproof’ case … We authorize charges where there is probable cause, and where we have reasonable belief we can prove a case beyond a reasonable doubt.” Williams is charged with assault with intent to do great bodily harm, carrying a dangerous weapon with unlawful intent, wearing body armor during the commission of a violent felony, assault with a dangerous weapon, malicious destruction of property, and resisting police.

Farah thinks the circumstances justify a more serious charge. He says that as the threats escalated the couple had hired private security guards, but the assailant lay in wait to attack his wife before they arrived that morning.

“Why not attempted murder one?” he asks. “Why are you undercharging this guy?”