US Olympian Kim Glass Struck by Metal Pipe in Downtown LA Attack

U.S. Olympian Kim Glass is recovering after she suffered facial fractures and other injuries when she was attacked by a man who struck her with a metal pipe in downtown Los Angeles.

The apparently unprovoked attack happened Friday after the member of Team USA's 2008 Olympic volleyball team walked out of a restaurant where she was having lunch, Glass said in an Instagram post. Glass said she was speaking with a friend when she noticed a man in the street with what appeared to be a metal pipe.

Glass said she thought he was going to strike a car, but then hurled the pipe at her.

"This homeless man ran up. He had something in his hand… and he just like looked at me," Glass said in her post. "And as I turned to go tell my friend I think something's like wrong with him, and I think he's going to hit your car, before I knew it, a big metal bolt, like pipe, hit me.

"He literally flung it from the street, so he was not even close to me at all."

Glass said witnesses subdued the man until police arrived. City News Service, citing police, reported that a 51-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.

NBCLA has reached out to the Los Angeles Police Department for details.

Glass described her gruesome injuries in the post, adding that her vision will be ok. The former University of Arizona star said she suffered several fractures around her right eye, which was swollen shut.

Glass, who won a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and also models, said she appreciates the support she received from family and friends.

“USA Volleyball is appalled to learn of this weekend’s brutal attack on our Olympic medalist Kim Glass. Our thoughts are with her and we wish her a speedy recovery,” USA Volleyball President and CEO Jamie Davis said in a statement on Monday.