Lawyer is beaten unconscious in New Orleans; neither his Rolex nor his cash was taken
A California lawyer visiting New Orleans for a legal meeting earlier this month was beaten unconscious by attackers who did not take his Rolex, cash or cellphone.
Sacramento, California, personal-injury lawyer Bill Callaham says he had visited the French Quarter and was walking back to the Hyatt Regency Hotel at around 2 a.m. on Dec. 12 when he was attacked, report the New Orleans Times-Picayune, the New Orleans Advocate, KXTV and WWLTV. He was in the city to speak to the Louisiana Association for Justice on trial presentation techniques.
“If somebody had confronted me and asked for money, I would’ve happily given them my money,” Callaham told the Times-Picayune. “I don’t know if it was random, I mean, I have no idea. I just think it’s a sad state of society right now.”
Callaham, 66, says that, before the attack, he passed three men on the other side of the street and one of them mumbled something. He didn’t respond. His next memory is of staggering down the street while bleeding profusely.
Two young women pulled up in a car and asked Callaham if he needed help, the stories report. He said yes, and the women drove him to the hospital. Callaham was then transferred to another hospital for facial reconstructive surgery. His nose and jaw were fractured and several teeth were broken.
Callaham told the Advocate he’s not sure why his attackers didn’t take anything from him. “I don’t know if they got interrupted. I don’t know if they didn’t care,” he said.
He is grateful for the women who stopped to help him. “I saw some of the worst of society or mankind and some of the best within minutes of each other,” Callaham told KXTV.
