Police: Knife-wielding prostitute arrested

ATLANTA - Concerns over prostitution in Midtown Atlanta turn into a scary situation and it's all caught on cell phone camera.

It happened at 3rd Street and Piedmont Avenue early Friday morning in a dimly lit area of the neighborhood. The victim, who does not want to be identified, took cell phone video of 3 a.m. encounter which police said turned into a violent confrontation. Police said it shows Raymond Hill throwing a rock, pulling out a knife and lunging at the victim.

"When our officers arrived on scene they were able to detain the suspect as well as recover the knife and no one was injured in the situation," said Atlanta Police Officer Lisa Bender.

Officer Bender said the Atlanta Police Department is very familiar with Hill. Since 2009, officers have arrest Hill about 20 times for everything from criminal trespassing to prostitution. This time Hill was charged with aggravated assault with a deadly weapon and possession of a knife during the commission of a felony.

Neighbors said they see prostitution and other illegal activity in the same area on a regular basis. While they said they are fed up, they also said they do not typically see those crime turn violent.

"Typically they avoid eye contact and they walk around usually with a sense of shame surrounding them," said Mel who lives nearby.

"What worried me about this is there's a post about this every night of the week," said Erika Burns who lives in the area. "I think now when local citizens feel like they have to actually go after it themselves that creates a whole other system of danger."

Making the arrest is the difficult part. In this case, the victim called the police and then took video of the alleged crime. Police said anyone who sees something wrong should call them and give a description, but it is not necessary to document the situation on video, which could put someone’s safety at a greater risk.