A father and son visiting San Antonio were attacked and badly beaten as they stepped out of an Uber, turning what had been one of the best nights of their lives into a terrifying ordeal. The pair, from New Jersey and Florida, had been celebrating after the Knicks won the NBA finals when the assault happened late on Saturday night.
According to the son, two men came at them from the side without warning. The family did not even see them at first, and within moments both were being punched. He recalled watching someone attack his father and then, half a second later, being struck in the face himself, as the attackers shouted at them during the assault.
The father took the worst of it. He was left with two black eyes, several cuts to his face that required stitches, a shoulder injury that left the joint repeatedly separating, and a brain bleed that, to the family's relief, turned out to be small. He was not knocked unconscious, but he went unresponsive for several minutes as his son tried to rouse him.
For the son, those minutes were the most frightening of his life. He described crouching over his father, lightly tapping his face and pleading with him to wake up as blood poured from his head, convinced for a time that he was holding his father as he died. The son, who is in his late 20s, was not as seriously hurt, but he asked not to be identified because he remains shaken by what happened.
There were moments of kindness amid the violence. Bystanders stepped in to help, including one woman who chased off other people who had been throwing eggs at the father and son as they lay injured on the sidewalk. Surveillance recorded by the nearby hotel was turned over to police as part of the investigation into the attack.
The episode also drew a response from the San Antonio Spurs. After learning what had happened, the team's management, upset by the attack, sent the father and son a card and a get-well basket, a gesture the pair said they appreciated as the father continues to recover from his injuries in the days since the beating.