Richmond police say they are actively investigating the alleged attack against San Pablo City Councilmember Paul Morris. He is currently at home recovering from his injuries.
Morris is president of Paul Morris Management and has served as a San Pablo council member since 2002. He says on July 3 he went to a home on San Joaquin Street to introduce himself to the tenant of a home his company recently acquired.
Investigators say Morris told them that he was on the doorstep when a man suddenly ran out yelling, "Get out, get out!" and punched him in the chest. Morris said he fell backwards and that the last thing he remembers was hitting his head on the concrete.
"There's no reason to believe that he was attacked because he was a council person and I don't even think he even had time to tell a person that he was the new property manager," said Richmond Police Lt. Bisa French.
It was then that investigators say things took a bizarre turn. Morris told police that he was driven in his car unconscious and left inside near the entrance to the Golden Gate Fields racetrack in Albany. That's when he woke up alone in the car, seated on the passenger's side, windows open, car key and smartphone within reach. He would eventually push the alert button in his car, sending an emergency call to first responders.
"From everything we have at this point, we're investigating and seeing if we could come up with a suspect from that," said French.
Morris says that after the unprovoked attack he was left alone in his car, suffering from injuries that caused him to be hospitalized for two days. Neighbors were shocked to hear of what happened.
Police would only say that their investigation is ongoing. They do have a person of interest, but they have not named a suspect. They expect to make an arrest soon. They say there is no immediate threat to the community.
