Millbrae councilmember hit by a concrete block at San Francisco beach

He said he received five stitches and suffered a cervical disc herniation but is expected to make a full recovery.

“It’s horrific what happened and I am very fortunate, very lucky to be here to talk about this,” he said. “There were other people who were walking to the cove next to me, some were young kids … if the brick hit a little girl who happened to be walking near me it would have killed her.”

Fung was with his wife and two children, who he said were 20 or 30 feet away. He said he initially thought it was an accident, but when his family yelled at the young men to stop throwing things, one of them pointed a middle finger before the pair fled.

“At the beginning, I didn’t even know what happened until I saw a big block of concrete on the ground,” he said. “There was a lot of blood when I first got hit, blood everywhere, it was horrific.”

Based on his description, the concrete, which he estimated to weigh 2 or 3 pounds, was likely thrown from 20 or more feet above.

And while an investigation is ongoing, Fung, who is the first Chinese immigrant to be elected to the Millbrae City Council, connected the incident to a national wave of attacks on Asian Americans and the resulting Stop AAPI Hate movement.

“The AAPI [community] has been under attack for years, and now an AAPI elected official was hit, where does it stop? We cannot continue to allow these hateful and violent acts.”

Regarding whether he was attacked specifically for his ethnicity or role as an elected official, however, Fung said he would be working with the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the park police “to figure that stuff out.”

The U.S. Park Police, who are in charge of the federal land on which the incident occurred, said officers met with Fung and searched the area for suspects but did not locate any, noting the investigation was ongoing.

“Nobody has a reason to attack me,” Fung said. “I didn’t do anything to anybody nor do I think I’m important enough to be targeted.”

The incident occurred around 5 p.m. Saturday, and Fung said he was taken to Sutter Health’s California Pacific Medical Center and released early Sunday morning. He said he was advised to wear a neck brace for his spinal injury, which doctors warned could worsen in coming weeks.

“I’m hopeful that I will fully recover from this incident, but the bigger question on my mind is, and it should be everyone’s mind is, when will our community recover from these continuation of attacks, one after another, day in and day out, senseless violence and hateful attacks like this have to stop,” he said.

San Francisco saw 60 reported hate crimes against Asians and Asian-owned businesses last year, representing a 567% increase between 2020 and 2021, according to police data cited by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Police are urging anyone with information regarding the incident to contact the USPP Criminal Investigation Unit at (415) 561-5151 or email SFFO_CIU@nps.gov.