Health Director For Tacoma-Pierce County Says He Was Attacked

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) – The director of the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, an Asian man, says he was attacked on a footbridge in Washington’s second-largest city.

The News Tribune reports that Dr. Anthony Chen said he doesn’t think the assault in Tacoma, Washington, was connected to his ethnicity, but it comes at a time of increased concern about violence directed toward Asians.

In a blog posted Friday afternoon, Chen wrote he was assaulted as he walked across the Chihuly Bridge of Glass.

He said he noticed a man damaging public property and tried to talk to him.

Chen said he wasn’t seriously hurt.

Wendy Haddow, spokeswoman for the Tacoma Police Department, says the alleged attack occurred about 1:40 a.m. May 19.