Baseball-bat attack

Earlier this month, Christian Fischer’s life changed after three swings of a baseball bat in Ocean Beach that left him with injuries so severe, it may impact his livelihood forever.

“The hospital said many things I hope to prove wrong,” says Fischer. “Said it would be over a year before I have almost full mobility in my arm back. It will never fully extend like it used to and I’ll need a year of physical therapy to even get that.”

Fischer is a staple at the OB Farmers’ Market every Wednesday, selling his crystals, oils, and dream-catchers, and during the week he can be found along the seawall at the foot of Newport Avenue selling his wares.

On Sunday, February 18, Fischer had set up shop along the seawall in O.B. At about 6:30 p.m., he sold a crystal to guy who felt he was overcharged by $10.

“He assumed I ripped him off and came back for a refund, which he got,” says Fischer. “Then he threatened me after that. He told me he could clear me outta OB. Five minutes later, another guy on a skateboard skated by and stole most of my friend Megan’s art, another artist on the wall, so I ran after him. He took Niagara Avenue and I headed up the alley. When the guy came out, I ran into him head-on. He fell in the street, threw the art up, and said, ‘He made me do it’….

"I got the art back and cussed him out. When I got to the sidewalk I was cracked from behind with a skateboard to the head. Turned to see it was the guy who returned the crystal; this was the guy who ‘made him do it.’”

The head injury left a bump and pain.

“How I don’t know, but like an idiot I kept feeling like I could solve this situation with my words, so I returned the art and went back up Niagara to talk this out. He saw me, jumped the white concrete wall [behind Nati’s], opened a car trunk, and pulled out a metal baseball bat. I didn’t think he was serious, and I still tried talking to him for maybe a few seconds and then he swung towards my head.

"I put my arm up, heard the crack, and my whole arm went limp. As I turned, he hit me two more times in the side, and as I ran away he got me one last time in the lower back. I ran down the alley behind the police station, didn’t see police, and then someone said they could see bone from my injury so I went to the ER.”

His surgery was more complicated than doctors originally anticipated.

“Surgery was supposed to be an hour but took four instead. I was admitted Sunday night and out by Wednesday for farmers’ market; 48 staples and a bunch of screws. They literally had to screw my elbow back on....

“Obviously making my art one-handed is super hard. Plus that’s my livelihood so that whole situation crashed my ability to support myself properly with my art."

SDPD detectives are investigating the assault, and it is believed that the attacker has shaved his facial hair since the incident.