Puyallup travel nurse just started new job. Then he was brutally attacked
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- A Puyallup travel nurse was brutally attacked in August outside a Kent restaurant.
- The assailant has pleaded guilty to two charges and awaits sentencing, court records show.
- An online fundraiser seeks support for the victim’s lengthy recovery and costly medical bills.
A Puyallup travel nurse was brutally attacked outside a restaurant, leaving him severely injured and unable to work. His family and friends are seeking the public’s help with his lengthy recovery and costly medical expenses.
Travis Ashburn, 27, was struck in the head from behind on Aug. 13 as he and a female friend left an eatery at Kent Station in Kent, according to King County Superior Court records. As Ashburn lay apparently unconscious, he was then punched and kicked several times in the face and body.
The assailant, Keegan Keitges, pleaded guilty on Aug. 26 to second-degree assault causing bodily harm and violating a protection order, court records show. He is scheduled to be sentenced Sept. 19.
Keitges, 31, was the “on again/off again boyfriend” of the friend who had accompanied Ashburn to the restaurant, according to court records. The woman had recently broken up with Keitges and had an active domestic-violence restraining order against him, the records show. Court documents suggested that Keitges could have learned her whereabouts through a tracking device later found by police in her vehicle — a tactic that the woman told authorities she believed he previously used to track her.
Ashburn suffered several injuries during the attack, including brain bleeding, facial fractures and a lacerated liver, and he was required to be put into a medically induced coma, according to an online fundraiser created to support his recovery. As of Tuesday, the GoFundMe had raised about $2,500 toward its $75,000 goal.
“This horrifying incident has turned his life upside down. He had just started a new job, which he’s now lost due to his injuries,” the GoFundMe page said, noting that he will need new teeth. “None of this was his fault. He’s an incredible person with a big heart, and it’s devastating to see him suffering because of something so senseless.”
Debbie Mitchell, Ashburn’s mother, told The News Tribune last week that her son was emotional and feels for his friend who witnessed the attack.
“I’m just truly heartbroken for my son because, as a nurse he helps people, he helps others,” Mitchell said, “and it’s really sad to see him in this state.”
Mitchell added that she wished to express her gratitude to law enforcement for quickly apprehending Keitges and to responding authorities who treated her son and took him to a trauma center.
In an Aug. 30 fundraiser update, Mitchell wrote that money collected thus far had been used to pay rent and part of a credit card bill, and that Ashburn had surgery two days earlier to fix broken bones in his nose and upper jaw.
To assist with Ashburn’s recovery, visit the GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/d6dm8-help-travis-recover-from-violent-attack.
