Jacinda Dunlap recalled for a jury two women jumping out of their car to attack her after she parked outside her St. Paul home late last winter.

They started punching her and pulling her hair, said Dunlap, 25, during her testimony in Ramsey County District Court this week. One of them hit her head with a sledgehammer, she said.

According to Dunlap, the woman with the sledgehammer was Diamond Reynolds, the girlfriend of Philando Castile.

Reynolds, 28, came into the public eye in July of 2016 after Castile was fatally shot during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights by a St. Anthony police officer. Officer Jeronimo Yanez was subsequently charged with manslaughter but acquitted by a jury last summer.

Reynolds was charged with second and third-degree assault for allegedly attacking Dunlap along with two other women in an unrelated incident that broke out outside Dunlap’s townhome on Jessamine Avenue around 6 a.m. on Feb. 28 2017.

“How certain are you that Ms. Reynolds hit you with that hammer,” Washington County prosecutor Siv Yurichuk asked Dunlap on the opening day of Reynolds’ assault trial this week.

“Very certain,” Dunlap responded.

Reynolds’ attorney Michael Padden asserts that Dunlap is pointing the finger at the wrong person. While Padden told jurors during opening statements he didn’t dispute that the other two women charged in the altercation — Dyamond Richardson and Chnika Blair — were involved, he said his client was not the third attacker.

Not only does he intend to prove that Reynolds wasn’t there, Padden told jurors, but he said he plans to offer evidence indicating Dunlap was never actually attacked by a sledgehammer and that she exaggerated her injuries.

The head injury she was hospitalized for following the attack was nothing more than a one centimeter laceration, Padden said. He claimed that the cut was caused by Blair’s fingernail when the woman pulled out Dunlap’s weave during the fight.

Dunlap described the attack as much more traumatic when she took the stand Tuesday. She described being knocked to the ground by the force of the sledgehammer and blood running down her face as she waited for an ambulance to take her to the hospital.

The assault took place in retaliation for an incident earlier that month on Feb. 7 at a Family Dollar store in St. Paul, according to Dunlap. In that incident, Dunlap said she and another woman got into a physical altercation with Dyamond Richardson, a store employee.

Dunlap was subsequently charged with fifth-degree assault for the encounter but the charges were dismissed.

Richardson, according to Dunlap, is a good friend of Reynolds, which is what prompted Reynolds to attack a woman she didn’t know, Dunlap told the jury.

Dunlap said she knew it was Reynolds because she recognized her from media coverage surrounding the shooting of Castile.

It was Reynolds and Chnika who followed her home from her mother’s house early Feb. 28 and jumped out of their car to attack her when she parked at her home, Dunlap testified.

While the assault was underway, she claims Richardson arrived in a different vehicle and got out and sprayed her with bear mace before all three attackers took off.

Dunlap also testified that Reynolds and Richardson showed up at her house to threaten her in the days following the Feb. 7 incident and said Reynolds also sent her what appeared to be a threatening message on Facebook. Related Articles CEO of MPR’s parent company to step down following blowback on racial and gender equity issues

Ramsey County commissioner announces $31.8 million federal grant for second Amtrak train

Frogtown Community Center unveils new artificial turf field, playground and outdoor fun

Former St. Thomas student pleads guilty to hoax bomb threat

Fifth annual Selby Stroll in St. Paul to be held Saturday

Both Richardson and Blair pleaded guilty to third-degree assault for their actions in the case. They were given credit for the handful of days they served following their arrests and were placed on probation.

Padden spent much of his cross-examination of Dunlap attempting to point out inconsistencies between her testimony and what she told investigators.