A 35-year-old man was hospitalized early Thursday morning after an alleged assault involving a male suspect with a garden hoe on the Ferry Street Bridge.
The assault was reported around 4:48 a.m., prompting a response from the Eugene Police Department and causing a brief disruption to traffic in the area, officials said. The man’s wife, 34, reported she had been walking northbound on Ferry Street Bridge near Second Ave., when she noticed the suspect begin to approach her. She stated her husband saw this and crossed over the bridge divider to protect her. The two men then engaged in a verbal altercation that ended with the suspect swinging a garden hoe at the victim, striking him in the head.
The victim, whose condition was not released, was taken to the hospital.
Authorities described the suspect, who fled the scene, as a white male, possibly in his 30s or 40s, around 5-foot-6, with no facial hair and a “dirty complexion.” He was reportedly wearing a black hoodie and armed with a garden hoe at the time of the incident. He was last seen headed northbound on Ferry Street Bridge.