Chris Bowd Gets His OB Rag T-Shirt – Welcome Home, Chris!

OCEAN BEACH, CA.  We were finally able to meet Chris Bowd after all this time.  Patty and I went to his OB home and presented him with this OB Rag T-shirt that a friend had bought him.  Chris is the OBcean knocked unconscious July 4th during a mystery assault.

Since his release from the series of hospitals he stayed at,  Chris has been back in OB for a couple of weeks, has been bicycling around the community, he has returned to work at UCSD, and is trying to claim back the life he lost of several weeks.

He has caught up too with all the dear comments left by friends and strangers to the various articles about him, his situation and his progress on this website.  He is very appreciative also of everything that people have sent him in terms of good vibes, prayers, and get well thoughts.

Chris had been in a coma for about three weeks. On July 4th after the fireworks, he had run out of money, and was returning to his home in south OB, when he went down that fateful alley – between Newport and Niagara. During his traverse of the alley, he was apparently severely assaulted and  beaten. He stumbled out from the other end, and collapsed in a pool of his own blood next to Cable, with facial and head injuries.  Paramedics got to him around 11pm after a 9-11 call.  It was not until early the following morning that he was discovered in a local hospital by his friends, unconscious.

After his injuries, there was silence from his family and close friends.  This “silence” was one of the excuses that San Diego mainstream press used to ignore Chris’ story – not all but most.  Now we find out that there had been a request from his UCSD department head for them not to talk to the media.

However, close friends were giving us information and leaving comments and updates as to his progress over the weeks.  In the meantime, local mainstream media essentially ignored his situation – in substantial contrast to the attention that a young Australian tourist lad received when he was also severely beaten here in OB by local homeless guys a couple summers ago.

To this day, Chris is not exactly certain of what happened that night. He does know that he received excellent medical care while he was laid up. He said when he first returned to OB, he felt it was July 7th, just a few days after the holiday – not the weeks since the assault.

Chris is also very frustrated with the progress of the police investigation and when we saw him this afternoon, had not spoken to the investigators for awhile.  He thinks that anyone with a potential assault charge like this wouldn’t hang around in San Diego.

The main thing, I told him, is that he is back and basically okay – and really in good shape considering he was in a coma for weeks.  Chris seemed truly amazed at the outpouring of well-wishes from his fellow OBceans.  He had never really experienced anything like it.  And of course, he doesn’t ever want to again.

Welcome back to OB, Chris. Your friends and neighbors are really glad that you survived and have returned to the community.  Now, maybe somebody will find whoever did it to you.