SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - A Golden Hill man says a homeless man tried to attack him and his girlfriend earlier this month.
Harry Gialvalis says he and his girlfriend saw what looked like a homeless man outside a barbershop yelling at two stylists inside. They were in a U-Haul and parked it so they could call the police and give the dispatcher a description.
“He was very jerky and moving his arms up,” Gialvalis said, “Like kind of pushing away, yelling, looking up, not acting normal.”
That’s when the man noticed them and ran up to their U-Haul.
“He drastically approached the vehicle, and the first thing he tried to do was get in. My girlfriend was in the passenger seat but we were able to lock the doors,” Gialvalis described, “He started getting frustrated he couldn’t get in, so he started punching the passenger side window.”
They drove down the road to get away from the man but stayed on the phone with the dispatcher. That’s when the man came back and tried to attack them again, and they drove off.
Police arrived, and Gialvalis didn’t think they’d see the guy again. But he did, a few days later.
Gialvalis reached out to police who said the man was detained, mentally evaluated and then released. Gialvalis could only think back to the encounter.
“I’m 35-years-old, I’m a male,” he said. “I mean I’m 207 pounds and I was scared. I’m nervous. I mean how do you approach a mentally ill person.”
It also makes him nervous about the homeless moving into his neighborhood.
“We see it first hand the effects in our neighborhood because we live and walk on these streets we don’t just stay at home,” he said.
