The petite woman punched into a coma during a fight over an East Village parking spot in February has regained consciousness, The Post has learned.
But the 25-year-old Bronx woman — Lana Rosa, who stands a mere 4-foot-11 — remains hospitalized and will need “months and months” of rehabilitation, according to a law enforcement source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Meanwhile, the accused puncher, Oscar Fuller, pleaded not guilty to felony assault this morning, and continues to insist that he punched Rosa in self defense. He remains free on $100,000 bail.
After court, defense lawyer Thomas Kenniff said only one sidewalk surveillance video exists of the Feb. 25 incident on 14th Street.
The video backs the self defense claim, Kenniff said, showing the woman “approaching my client, not the other way around.”
Fuller’s been crying self-defense from the moment he was busted a couple days later, according to a police statement released this morning.
“A woman came up to my window and told me I can’t park there,” Fuller told cops, according to his statement. Rosa was holding the spot for her boyfriend to park in.
“I started to back in. The woman yelled at me and starts swinging at me two of three times. She slaps my face.
“A male comes across the street and I am preparing to fight this guy but then he stopped and stayed back, and I realized he wasn’t a threat so I punched her in the face and I saw her fall to the ground.
“I hit her because she hit me. I left and went to the party.”
As for Rosa’s condition, Fuller’s lawyer said today, “From what I understand, she came out of the coma and she’s made some remarkable improvements.”
Fuller says he could never have foreseen the injuries, and should have been charged with misdemeanor assault.
But prosecutors contend in court papers that Fuller punched the woman with so much force she “flew off her feet.” Fuller left her lying unconscious in a pool of blood — her skull severely fractured.
Fuller is due back in court May 26.