San Jose: Man knocked unconscious during parking dispute

SAN JOSE – A man was caught on camera punching and knocking another man to the ground during a dispute over a vehicle parked on a red curb in San Jose on Friday afternoon.

The altercation was reported about 12:50 p.m. in the 300 block of North 3rd Street, near East Julian Street, said San Jose police Sgt. Enrique Garcia. The suspect left the scene in a gray Toyota SUV before officers arrived.

Garcia said the victim was taken to a hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.

Jill Neal filmed the dispute from her second-story apartment. She had just gotten out of the shower when she heard two men arguing. She said she yelled at them to break it up.

The men ignored or didn’t hear her, Neal said, so she grabbed her phone and started recording.

Neal said parking is tight in the area and people often stop on the red curb to wait for a space to open up. But the red curb is near a driveway and vehicles that stop there make it difficult to access.

That’s what sparked the confrontation, Neal said.

“I bet you anything two minutes from now you’ll drive away,” the victim tells the suspect in the roughly 45-second video.

“Yeah, maybe,” the suspect replies. “It’s none of your (expletive) business.”

“Yeah it is when I’m trying to turn,” the victim says.

The video then shows the victim looking away and the suspect punching him at least once in the face. The victim falls to the ground, apparently unconscious, and the suspect leaves the scene in the Toyota.

“He was out cold,” said Neal, adding that the victim’s head hit the concrete sidewalk.

Neal said she called 911 seconds later, put on some clothes and went downstairs to help the victim. She later uploaded the video to social media in the hope someone might recognize the suspect.

“He could have killed him,” Neal said about the suspect. “That guy needs to face some kind of punishment.”

Anyone with information about the case can leave an anonymous tip with Silicon Valley Crime Stoppers at 408-947-STOP (7867) or svcrimestoppers.org. Tipsters may be eligible for a cash reward.

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