Health department director reports being assaulted in Tacoma. Chen ‘banged up and sore’
Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department director Dr. Anthony Chen announced Friday that he had been physically attacked on the Chihuly Bridge of Glass in Tacoma.
In a blog posted Friday afternoon, Chen wrote, “Early Wednesday morning, as I walked across the Chihuly Bridge of Glass in Tacoma, a man whom I had never met, attacked me.
“First, let me say up front, I am fine. I drove myself to the emergency room and got specialty treatment in the afternoon. I am banged up and sore but do not have serious injuries.”
Chen said, “The attack happened after I noticed a man damaging public property. I calmly tried to engage him in conversation but I could see he was escalating so I disengaged and walked away. Suddenly, he knocked me down from behind and punched me as I stood up. He continued to attack me even as I tried to back away. Naturally, I reported the attack to the police.”
The News Tribune requested copies of the full police report and 911 audio from South Sound 911 Friday morning after receiving a tip about the attack. The agency was still processing those requests at the time of publication.
In response to questions from The News Tribune, Wendy Haddow, spokeswoman for the Tacoma Police Department, said that according to the initial report filed with the Tacoma Police Department, the alleged attack occurred about 1:40 a.m. May 19.
The alleged attacker was described as a 20- to 30-year-old male, and the investigation is ongoing, according to that report.
The report was not taken at the location of incident but was called in afterwards, according to Haddow.
The report said the victim took himself to a hospital for treatment of injuries, the extent of which was not determined at the time of the report filing.
Chen was absent during Wednesday’s regular Board of Health study session, with deputy director Cindan Gizzi standing in for Chen, who simply said he was “out” that day.
Chen, in his blog, said he did not think the attack was related to his work as health department director or because of his ethnicity:
“I do not think so but the fact that people have to ask is a sad commentary for our times. I recently wrote about the rise in hate crimes against Asian Americans during the pandemic. Public health officials nationwide have been threatened, fired, or pushed to resign as they made difficult and unpopular decisions; Washington public health officials have suffered as well.”
At a news conference later Friday, Chen said the man was riding a BMX bike and doing maneuvers he felt were damaging the benches on the bridge.
“There was a gentleman who was doing BMX tricks on there and I just, you know, pointed out to him that I was concerned that this was damaging the concrete benches,” Chen said.
Chen said it was not out of the ordinary for him to walk or run in the area later in the evening.
“It is not unusual for me to be out late,” he said. “And, you know ... walking or running on the Thea Foss is very peaceful at night. I have never felt unsafe in downtown Tacoma. Tacoma is my home. I live right in downtown. I’ve never had an issue.”
He said he felt it was his duty to engage with the individual to warn him about the potential damage from his bike.
“If people are doing things which are just not good things to do — I mean, I’m sure all of you have encountered this, right? Someone defaces something, someone litters, you know, whatever .... I think it’s perfectly OK for us as residents and citizens of Pierce County to say something to someone in a nice way,” Chen said. “And if they don’t want to hear it, that’s OK, we let go of it, and I’m not gonna get into a fight with him over it.”
“I was just nicely trying to tell him that other people use the area, they use the bench.”
He added he thought the man’s bike was chipping away at the bench corners.
“He and I had a little conversation. He didn’t agree with me, and I walked away and then before I knew it I was face down on the ground, and he shoved me and when I got up, he attacked me and continued do so even though I tried to disengage and back away, and eventually he did leave,” Chen said.
In his blog, Chen wrote: “I heard him say that he did not feel his actions were damaging public property. I heard his frustration that there were not places he could practice tricks on his BMX bike in Tacoma. What I do feel is disappointment that he chose to deal with his disagreement and frustration with physical violence.”
Chen on Friday told reporters he didn’t think he was being targeted, but that the violence is a larger statement about society as a whole.
“I’ve had a lot of friends and colleagues reach out just to check on me, and people have asked is this either anti-Asian hate crime, or is it because I’m the director of health at the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department?” Chen said. “As you know during the pandemic we’ve had to make some difficult decisions; some often unpopular with certain segments of the community. And I think it’s just really unfortunate, you know, that normally you wouldn’t have to talk about anti-Asian hate. But, you know, we are seeing that now.”
He added: “And normally you don’t have to talk about public health officials being threatened or in some cases physically assaulted and/or losing their jobs, but unfortunately during this pandemic, we have to talk about it. So I think these are just disturbing trends in our community, but I think it reflects that there’s increasing violence.”
This story was originally published May 21, 2021 at 2:13 PM.
