A San Diego man left paralyzed as a result of an apparent road-rage beating in New Orleans is now one step closer to home, thanks to online donations.
Doug David, a La Jolla jazz lover who often made trips to the French Quarter, told police he was nearly struck by a small black car as he crossed a road in an adjacent neighborhood just before midnight on Oct. 15.
"He was crossing the street and someone ran the stop sign and almost hit him,” his niece Alicia Foulds told NBC 7, “and he threw a beer can at them and I'm assuming probably used some choice words."
The driver stormed out of the car and hit David in the face, New Orleans police said. The victim remembers nothing after the punch.
It took an officer about 40 minutes to arrive at the scene, which had been cleared by that point when an ambulance took David to the hospital. “With neither the victim nor witnesses on scene, the incident was marked up unfounded,” police said in a release.
That’s why it took officers 10 days to finally contact David in a New Orleans hospital after a call from family members.
The beating left David with spinal cord injuries that paralyzed him from the shoulders down. Foulds, a Rancho Cucamonga resident, flew to New Orleans to be with her uncle.
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“My heart breaks for him,” said Foulds, “to know the kind of lifestyle he lived and to know that is forever changed.” She said he frequently cycles as part of his active, retired lifestyle.
An air ambulance to fly him back home cost $20,000, and his loved ones began fundraising online. On Saturday, Doug's close friend Stephen Simpson said his friend was transported from New Orleans to Ontario, CA. He will undergo treatment at a hospital there for his injuries.
The family has started a fundraising page in an effort to raise money to continue his medical treatment.
Meanwhile, New Orleans police said suspect Christopher Smith, 30, turned himself into Central Lock-up Sunday night around 11 p.m. He was charged with one count of second degree battery.
