Marysville’s mayor punched in a daylight assault; councilman, police chief chase down suspect
Marysville’s mayor and a city councilman were allegedly attacked in the city’s downtown Thursday afternoon as they waited at a crosswalk with the city’s police chief.
Chris Branscum told the Marysville Appeal-Democrat he was punched in the back in the daytime attack as he, a plainclothed Chief of Police Chris Sachs and Councilman Dom Belza stood at Fifth and D streets in downtown Marysville. Belza was also struck before chasing down and tackling the suspected attacker to the ground.
The Marysville leaders were awaiting a meeting with Rep. Doug La Malfa, R-Richvale, at the site of the Hotel Marysville, gutted by a fire in June.
“My first reaction was I thought I got hit by a car,” the mayor told the Appeal-Democrat. “Then half a moment later, someone takes off on a dead run. ... (Belza) was the quickest off the mark, took him down about halfway down the block on the sidewalk.”
Arrested was Derek Don Hopkins, 36, the newspaper reported. Hopkins is unhoused and is known to Marysville authorities, Sachs told the newspaper.
Hopkins was charged with two misdemeanor counts of battery and pleaded not guilty during an arraignment Friday in Yuba Superior Court. He remains held in a Marysville jail in lieu of $50,000 bail and is expected to return to court Sept. 6.
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