San Diego

OB Merchant Says Man He Upsold Returned and Beat Him With a Bat

Ocean Beach merchant Christian Fischer makes his living selling handmade crafts right next to the beach.

The future of his livelihood now rests in the hands of his surgeon who had to put his left elbow and arm back together with steel pins after he was brutally attacked by a man with a baseball bat.

"I have a book for every person I have an experience with,” Fischer said.

The book of Fischer's experience with the customer who purchased a crystal and shattered his elbow and bruised his side the very next day, would definitely be a horror story.

"My arm went limp. I turned to run and he hit me two more times in the side," Fischer said.

Photographs of Fischer's injuries are hard to look at. He has deep bruises on his side and the staples from the surgery incision go almost the whole length of his arm.

Christian says the man who attacked him was caught on a security camera a few blocks from the beach.

NBC 7 isn't identifying the man because police haven't charged him. We tracked his image to The Philosopher's Stone in Ocean Beach where he came to have the crystal appraised the day before the attack.

Owner Wendy Adelstin says she appraised the crystal he bought from Fischer at a lower price than what he paid for it.

"He was very calm. He was nice, he was smiling. He was in good spirits. I did not feel threatened or in danger," Adelstin said.

Five minutes after that, the customer returned to the beach. Fischer says he threatened his life even though he gave the man his money back.

“I felt like I could talk this out with this person, that we could come to some solution,“ Fischer said.

Fischer approached the customer in Nati's Restaurant parking lot just a few blocks from the beach.

He says the alleged attacker saw him, grabbed a bat from the trunk of a car and then beat him with it.

"I worry about every skateboarder that comes past me. I worry about every guy with long dark hair. There are different triggers in my mind I have to work on getting rid of," Fischer said.

The attendant at the restaurant parking lot where the attack happened logs the license plates of the cars parked there.

The owner of the restaurant could not verify whether the suspect’s license plate number is on that list.

Those close to the case believe the suspect lives in Ocean Beach.

Police tell NBC 7 they are investigating the case but have not made any arrests.

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