BOSTON, July 19, 2012—A West End woman was held on high bail yesterday after her arraignment for allegedly swinging a kitchen knife at a mother and her two young children, Suffolk County District attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

DIANE HUGGINS (D.O.B. 2/20/54) was arraigned yesterday in the Boston Municipal Court on two counts each of assault with a dangerous weapon and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. Judge Thomas Horgan set bail at $25,000 cash and ordered her to stay away from the victims, a 35-year-old Back Bay woman and her children, ages 1 and 4.

The victim was walking her son and daughter in a stroller along Thoreau Path at about 2:00 Tuesday when Huggins allegedly approached her and asked for the time. As she responded, the victim saw that Huggins held what appeared to be a large knife in her hand and began to swing it at the children.

The mother told Boston Police that she spun the stroller away, placing herself between the assailant and the children. A brief physical altercation ensued in which both women went to the ground. At that moment, a passerby – later identified as a 72-year-old West End resident – intervened, disarmed Huggins, and tossed the knife away from the fracas. The man held Huggins until Boston Police arrived a few moments later.

After speaking with the mother, the 72-year-old man, and a neighbor who witnessed the aftermath of the incident, officers placed Huggins under arrest.

The children were not physically injured during the incident. Their mother was transported to Massachusetts General Hospital with a laceration to one finger and an abrasion to one knee. The Samaritan sustained a three-inch injury to his forearm believed to have come from the knife. He was treated by Boston Emergency Medical Services technicians at the scene but declined to be transported to the hospital.

Boston Police recovered a large kitchen knife at the scene and seized it as evidence.

Huggins was represented by attorney Timothy Brown. She will return to court on Aug. 16.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.