A California mayor allegedly got rocked by a homeless man, who randomly decided to sucker punch him. The attack happened in broad daylight.
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Marysville City Councilman Dom Belza said via the New York Post that a homeless man attacked him and Mayor Chris Branscum. The California mayor was downtown assessing damage to a historic building. That's when the attack happened.
"We were standing on the sidewalk near the site having a casual conversation. An individual was crossing at the crosswalk. And right as he got to the mayor, who had his back turned, the individual reached back and swung and hit him right square in the back," Belza said. "There was no communication, no altercation. There was nothing that instigated the punch. It was just a complete random act of violence."
Meanwhile, the California mayor said the attacker came out of no where. He said, "I thought I was hit by a car. I was hit so hard. The next thing I know, there's this guy sliding by me, running, and I yelled an expletive at him."
Authorities later identified the suspect as 36-year-old Derek Hopkins. They charged him with eight charges including assault of a public official. Belza ended up chasing after the suspect and actually apprehended him himself.
California Mayor Attacked
"I saw the attacker take off running down the street, so instinct kicked in, and I ran after the attacker," Belza said. "As I was gaining on him, and we were about halfway down the block, he turned around and saw me over his shoulder."
Belza said the homeless man struck him, but he wasn't going down without a fight.
"After that, I engaged him and took him down to the ground and restrained him until the chief of police was able to get there. We held him in custody until he was officially arrested," Belza said.
Meanwhile, Belza said the attack on the California Mayor is a sign of rising crime in towns across California. "In a bigger light and a larger picture of this whole situation, this is something that we're dealing with on a regular basis," he said. "Maybe not necessarily where an elected official gets attacked. But where there's many more of these types of crimes and these types of attacks in communities across California."
"It speaks to a much bigger issue in the state. This attack is really a result of the soft-on-crime policy that California has implemented over the last 10 years," he said.
