Brazen vagrant allegedly punches California mayor, city official in 'random' attack on street with police chief nearby

A homeless man took a swing at a California mayor and then punched a city councilman in the head in broad daylight, the city councilman told Fox News Digital.

On August 22, Mayor Chris Branscum, Councilman Dom Belza, and Police Chief Christian Sachs as well as a pair of congressional staffers were walking along the streets of Marysville, California, a city of some 12,000 residents about 40 miles north of Sacramento.

'I thought I was hit by a car. I was hit so hard.'

The group was examining a historic building that had recently been ravaged by a fire when suddenly a homeless man came up and slugged Mayor Branscum in the back without provocation, Belza told Fox News.

"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 explained, according to the New York Post.

"There was no communication, no altercation. There was nothing that instigated the punch. It was just a complete random act of violence."

Belza said his "instincts kicked in," and he then chased the suspect — later identified as 36-year-old Derek Hopkins — down the street.

Once Belza caught up with the assailant, the man turned and took a swing at him, making contact with the side of his head, he said.

"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 continued.

Hopkins, who is described as homeless, has been assessed eight charges, including felony assault of a public official and felony elder abuse. His bail has been set at $50,000, the Post reported. As of Wednesday afternoon, Hopkins was still in custody at the Yuba County Jail, records showed.

In a statement to Blaze News, Belza confirmed that he did not personally recognize the suspect but heard that local law enforcement was familiar with him.

Mayor Branscum, 75, expressed gratitude that his younger companions apprehended his alleged attacker, who apparently struck with some force. "I thought I was hit by a car. I was hit so hard," Branscum recalled. "The next thing I know, there's this guy sliding by me, running, and I yelled an expletive at him."

"He's a bada**," Branscum said of Belza, according to KCRA. "So is the chief of police. Dom took him down, and the chief was right there, right behind him. They did a heck of a job."

Belza said that the incident is part of a much larger problem throughout the state of California. "This attack is really a result of the soft-on-crime policy that California has implemented over the last 10 years," he told Fox News.

Belza also views Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, who once served as the attorney general of California, as partially responsible for the decline regarding public safety in his state since she once lobbied hard in favor of Proposition 47, which reclassified six minor felony offenses as misdemeanors.

"As AG she titled the proposition the Safe Schools and Safe Communities Act. What it really did was lower the penalties for retail theft, hard drug possession, and drug dealing down to misdemeanors," Belza told Blaze News.

Belza also told Blaze News that Proposition 36, which is on the ballot this November, is a possible solution to the rise in crime.

"The State is just going to have to suck it up. Rather than spending taxpayers ($26 Billion) on useless homeless programs, and a bullet train to nowhere, they are going to have to spend those dollars on dealing with criminals if Prop 36 passes in November," he told Blaze News.

"Situations like this are proof that California is not a safe state and that these small, rural communities aren’t safe anymore," he added on Fox News.

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