(Luis Cornelio, Headline USA) All attention turned to a Democratic mayor from California after one of his armed bodyguards was brutally beaten by a bystander during a live interview with a news outlet.
San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, a Democrat, was downtown for the opening of a restaurant when he was interviewed by KRON4, a television station in the San Francisco Bay Area.
During the interview, conducted on Tuesday, a bystander seemingly walked by, making explicit remarks. At this point, the mayor and the unnamed bodyguard informed the man that he was conducting an interview.
“Mind your f**king business,” the pedestrian told the security guard, a member of the San Jose Police Department.
“I was going to do what the f**k I was going to do right before you walked up to me,” the bystander retorted to the officer, who had advised him to keep quiet.
As depicted in video footage released by KRON4, the pedestrian mentioned he worked for a nearby company before becoming increasingly agitated and threatening to “smack” the officer.
“Do you wanna get smacked?” the pedestrian challenged.
Shortly thereafter, the altercation escalated, with the pedestrian slapping the officer across the face.
The men engaged in a physical altercation, exchanging punches for nearly three minutes before members of the San Jose Police Department intervened, instructing the pedestrian to “let go.”
The security detail was subsequently taken to a nearby hospital for head and neck pain, according to KRON4.
The pedestrian was subsequently booked at the Santa Clara County Main Jail.
Neither the SJPD headquarters nor its media relations department responded to phone calls made by Headline USA to confirm whether the officer had been released from the hospital. Similarly, the county jail did not respond to Headline USA’s inquiries.
This incident comes at a time when Californians are increasingly worried about their safety, polls suggest.
Over the weekend, a man allegedly broke into the official residence of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. The suspect, identified as Ephraim Matthew Hunter, was booked on burglary charges.
