Authorities have released surveillance footage that captured the moment a chef starring in a Netflix show was forced to defend himself after a homeless man began assaulting him at a San Francisco liquor store.
Wendy Drew stars in the Netflix series You Are What You Eat: The Twins Experimentwas Attacked On September 1st, at a liquor store in downtown San Francisco, New York Post.
Drew told media that a man walking her dog began calling her the N-word.
“I said, 'Why are you calling me that? Why?' And he turned around and started hitting me in the head. He hit me in the head like three times. I was like, 'You're not going to get away with hitting me,'” Drew said.
The fight eventually spilled over into the liquor store, where surveillance cameras captured the incident in more detail.
“I basically had him in a bear hug. I had him with both my legs and he kept trying to get away,” Drew explained. “His dog came over and I thought the dog was going to bite me but the poor dog was just licking my face. When I let up he started punching me in the face over and over.”
San Francisco police later identified the man as Ervin Rivera Lara, 31, a homeless man with a history of violent crimes.
The video shows the assailant holding Drew down and punching him multiple times in the face and head, while bystanders attempt to spray the aggressive man with pepper spray.
In the video, Rivera Lara tries to stop Drew from leaving the store, but Drew stands up.
The woman said the attack was completely unexpected.
“He just looked like someone taking his dog for a walk,” Drew claimed. “It turned out he was homeless. On the surface he didn't seem like he had any mental issues.”
Drew suffered serious injuries including a black eye, deep cuts to his face and other bruises and abrasions.
The chef said the man was filthy and homeless and had to get a tetanus shot, adding: “He also suffered a concussion and a broken nose. He may need surgery but that has not been confirmed yet.”
Rivera-Lara was arrested last Thursday and charged with assault likely to cause serious injury and providing false information to a police officer, as well as a hate crime charge.
The suspect had been arrested and charged with assaulting the owner of a sandwich shop after he confronted him about urinating outside his restaurant.
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