Geoff Boucher was in San Diego to cover Comic-Con when he encountered some toughs on the sidewalk in the Gaslamp Quarter.
In the 15 years I have been writing for The Times, I have covered wildfires, riots, gang murders and plenty of other mayhem. I never got hurt. This weekend I covered a comic book convention in San Diego and I'm going home with staples in my head.....One of his buddies, standing off to my side, cold-cocked me, and the ring on his fist took a chunk out of my face. I never saw it coming. I was at the emergency room until dawn.
They stitched up the triangular gash on my face and put staples in my scalp for the nasty cut on the back of my head left when I hit the curb. The cops at the scene said this sort of incident isn't that rare, and the ER folks said I was lucky the guys didn't kick me, which might have happened if the street hadn't been packed with closing-time crowds headed home.
He blogs about it on the Times website.