California
Small town California mayor allegedly sucker punched by homeless man near congressional staffers, police chief
A Northern California city council member is pointing to his state’s lenient policies on crime after he and a mayor were allegedly attacked and punched in a daytime attack by a homeless person.
Marysville City Councilman Dom Belza told Fox News Digital he and Mayor Chris Branscum, Chief of Police Christian Sachs, along with two congressional staffers for Rep. Doug LaMalfa, R-CA, was downtown assessing damage to a historic building that had been recently devastated by a fire when the incident occurred Aug. 22.
“We were standing on the sidewalk near the site having a casual conversation. An individual was crossing at the crosswalk. And right as he got to the mayor, who had his back turned, the individual reached back and swung and hit him right square in the back,” Belza said.
“There was no communication, no altercation. There was nothing that instigated the punch. It was just a complete random act of violence.”
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Marysville City Councilman Dom Belza, pictured, was with Mayor Chris Branscum and Chief of Police Christian Sachs when the incident occurred. (Fox News Digital)
Mayor Branscum described the attack as “out of nowhere,” telling KCRA-TV that “I thought I was hit by a car.
“I was hit so hard. The next thing I know, there’s this guy sliding by me, running, and I yelled an expletive at him.”
Following the alleged attack, Belza said his “instincts kicked in” and he bolted after the fleeing suspect.
The suspect, who was later identified as 36-year-old Derek Hopkins, took off running after the incident.
“I saw the attacker take off running down the street, so instinct kicked in, and I ran after the attacker,” Belza said. “As I was gaining on him, and we were about halfway down the block, he turned around and saw me over his shoulder.”
The suspect was identified as 36-year-old Derek Hopkins. (Yuba County Sheriff’s Department)
Belza said Hopkins stopped and came in for a second punch, successfully hitting him on the side of his head.
“After that, I engaged him and took him down to the ground and restrained him until the chief of police was able to get there. We held him in custody until he was officially arrested,” Belza said.
Hopkins is facing eight charges that include felony assault of a public official and felony elder abuse. His bail is set at $50,000.
Belza said the incident sheds light on the crime crisis happening in communities across California, as Democratic policies impact ordinary citizens and elected officials.
“In a bigger light and a larger picture of this whole situation, this is something that we’re dealing with on a regular basis,” he said. “Maybe not necessarily where an elected official gets attacked, but where there’s many more of these types of crimes and these types of attacks in communities across California.”
“This attack is really a result of the soft-on-crime policy that California has implemented.”
“It speaks to a much bigger issue in the state. This attack is really a result of the soft-on-crime policy that California has implemented over the last 10 years,” he said.
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, arrives for a campaign rally in Savannah, Ga., Thursday. Harris was California attorney general in 2014 when Proposition 47 was signed into law. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Belza zeroed in on Proposition 47, which was signed into law in November 2014 and reclassified six minor felony offenses as misdemeanors, including shoplifting of merchandise valued at less than $950 and drug possession.
“Prop 47 is the anchor of that soft on crime,” he said.
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He pointed to California’s attorney general in 2014 — Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee — as the leader behind the legislation.
“She was the one who really pushed this heavily, and since then, we’ve just seen crime go rampant in California,” he said. “I think we should all be really concerned that if she is running for president, or if she becomes president, that the entire nation is going to deal with the same issues that California is dealing with for the last 10 years.
“That should be a huge, huge concern for all of us.”
Along D Street in the politically conservative city of Marysville, Calif. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
Belza said that despite his city’s small size, it has been forced to deal with the result of progressive legislation, like Prop 47.
“We’re a small community in Northern California, and we’ve been dealing with homelessness, substance abuse, vagrancy, loitering and vandalism,” Belza said. “One of our local coffee shops last year just randomly had a chair thrown through its window.
“We’ve just seen a huge increase in those types of crime, not to mention the increase in hard crimes, like murders.”
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In 2024, California reported that violent crime had significantly declined. Belza disputed the claims, saying the new classification of reporting crime has impacted the data.
“When you report it [crime] differently, it’s not necessarily that the crime is going down,” Belza said. “What used to be reported as a felony, now is reported as a misdemeanor, and what used to be reported as a misdemeanor is now reported as a lighter infraction crime.
“And so it’s not that crime has gone down,” he added. “I would say the reality is we’ve seen crime go up to the point where most of our residents in Marysville are afraid to go to the store. They’re afraid to walk down the street.
“Situations like this are proof that California is not a safe state and that these small, rural communities aren’t safe.”
“And situations like this are proof that California is not a safe state and that these small, rural communities aren’t safe anymore,” he said.
“And that’s the real issue – people don’t feel safe,” he said. “I had a call from a lady that I know, an elderly lady in town, who went to the local (drug store) to pick up her medications. And as she was trying to get back to her car from the storefront, she was confronted by two individuals in the street that wanted to harass her. She doesn’t have anybody there to help her or to protect her.”
A view of the California Capitol in Sacramento. (Arturo Holmes/Getty Images for National Urban League)
Belza said communities in California have created coalitions to combat crime.
“Because of the results of what we’re experiencing with crime in California, the people spoke up. We got enough signatures to get Prop 36 on the ballot,” he said. “Prop 36 really changes what prop 47 did and brings serious ramifications for repeat offenders, especially in retail theft and especially in heavy drugs, like fentanyl.
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“I created an organization last spring called Free California, and it is designed to help partner state legislators and others that are trying to combat this issue on a policy level and also bring awareness to California residents to say that we the people can make changes to things that we’re not happy about. We have a responsibility to step up as California citizens and to help make this a safe state.”
The Harris campaign and LaMalfa did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
California
Mother, daughter found ‘alive and well’ after going missing on Southern California hiking trail
A mother and daughter who went missing after going for a hike on a difficult trail in San Bernardino County’s San Gorgonio Wilderness have been found “alive and well,” the sheriff’s department announced Friday.
The San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department told KTLA they were uninjured and “walked out on their own.”
Krystal Meyers, 41, and her daughter Alexis Meyers Martinez, 21, were hiking on the Vivian Creek Trail Thursday but didn’t return, according to the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department.
They were last known to be at the 10,300-foot elevation mark above the High Creek switchbacks at 11 a.m., according to the San Gorgonio Search and Rescue team.
The Vivian Creek Trail is widely considered one of the more strenuous and hazardous routes in the San Gorgonio Wilderness.
The U.S. Forest Service says it’s the shortest and steepest route to the summit of Mount San Gorgonio and requires experienced mountaineering skills.
Officials did not provide any further details about the circumstances surrounding their disappearance.
BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — The California Highway Patrol is urging drivers to stay focused on the road as they head out for Fourth of July celebrations.
The holiday weekend can be a dangerous time on our roads as millions of drivers are expected to travel.
CHP Officer Jorge Toro joined Eyewitness News Mornings to share how drivers can stay safe behind the wheel.
Officer Toro also highlighted the importance of sober driving over the holiday.
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He says anyone hosting a party should make sure all of their guests get home safely, ensuring anyone who may be impaired doesn’t drive.
California is returning a stretch of rugged Mendocino County coast to the Indigenous nations whose ancestors once stewarded its shores.
State transportation officials recently approved the transfer of Blues Beach and the surrounding bluffs to Kai Poma, a nonprofit founded by representatives of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians, Round Valley Indian Tribes and Coyote Valley Band of Pomo Indians.
The transfer of 136 acres just south of the community of Westport will mark the first time land managed by the California Department of Transportation has been returned to Indigenous tribes.
“This is beyond huge,” said J. Carlos Rivera, tribal chairman of the Sherwood Valley Band of Pomo Indians. “It’s enormous from our tribal perspective that we are basically obtaining the land that our people once lived on before colonization.”
California purchased the swath of rocky cliffs and windswept shoreline in the 1960s to expand the construction of Highway 1 and create a scenic viewpoint for highway travelers, according to a California Coastal Commission report.
More recently, public access has been largely unregulated, and summer weekends and holidays have drawn large groups who camp and party on the beach, at times driving through sensitive areas, damaging cultural sites and leaving behind trash, the report states.
Kai Poma plans to conduct cultural and archaeological resource studies and environmental surveys and then prepare a resource management plan for the property, according to planning documents. The nonprofit and the Coastal Commission have drafted a public access management plan that states the land will be open from sunrise to sunset.
Rivera described the entire property as a sacred site. The coastal waters are used by tribal people for seaweed and abalone gathering, and the shores host youth cultural camps, he said. “Protecting the land, it has a deeper meaning for us because we’re connected to the land,” he said.
The effort to acquire the land took years — and required a change in state law. Caltrans lacked the ability to transfer land to tribal governments until 2021, when Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a bill sponsored by state Sen. Mike McGuire (D-Healdsburg) that enabled the transfer, according to a news release issued at the time. The law also bars commercial activity on the property and requires public access be maintained.
“With 136 acres now officially transferred into tribal stewardship, one of the most spectacular stretches of the Mendocino Coast will be forever protected,” McGuire said in a statement.
“This agreement, the first of its kind in California, gives these three dynamic Native American tribes the rightful opportunity to reclaim sacred lands and cultural traditions on this special piece of earth. And it’s about damn time.”
The land transfer cleared its last regulatory hurdle June 26 with the approval by the California Transportation Commission, said Neil Thapar, an attorney who works as an advisor and legal consultant to Kai Poma. Caltrans staff will next record the deed transferring the title from the state of California to Kai Poma, which is expected to happen any day, he said.
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