An 81-year-old person was hospitalized after being assaulted at Arcata Plaza during the farmers market on Saturday, October 31, prompting a quick police response that ended with a Eureka man in custody. Officers say the attack happened in broad daylight, in the middle of a weekend tradition that draws shoppers and families to the plaza.
According to Redheaded Blackbelt, Arcata police received the call reporting the assault at approximately 1:34 p.m. Officers located 55-year-old Darren Brown of Eureka nearby shortly afterward and took him into custody, Arcata Police Lieutenant Keith Altizer said.
Brown was booked into the Humboldt County Correctional Facility on suspicion of assault likely to cause great bodily injury, a charge outlined under Penal Code section 245(a)(4), as well as assault on a person over 65 under Penal Code section 368(b). Those are the two counts police say Brown is suspected of, though the report notes police had not provided details about what led to the assault.
Victim's Injuries Described as Minor to Moderate
Altizer described the victim's injuries as minor to moderate, and the victim was transported to the hospital, the outlet reported. Brown was seen holding a knife while leaving the scene after the assault, but Altizer said the knife was not used in the attack and nobody was stabbed. Altizer also said Brown and the victim were the only two people involved in the incident.
Arcata police confirmed there was one arrest and no ongoing threat to the public following the incident, per the same account. Beyond those details, the circumstances that led up to the confrontation at the plaza remain unexplained in what police have released so far.
A Separate Arcata Case Involving an Older Victim
The farmers market assault comes months after another Arcata case involving an older victim drew scrutiny in the courts. In that case, 51-year-old Shawn Kolpak was accused of attacking a 75-year-old man in the Arcata Community Forest, according to the Lost Coast Outpost. A judge found sufficient evidence to continue proceedings against Kolpak, holding him to answer on an attempted homicide charge while reducing an aggravated mayhem charge to simple mayhem.
The Lost Coast Outpost reported that the 75-year-old victim in that case suffered serious head injuries in the January 30 attack and remained unable to speak in intensive care at a UC Davis hospital. The two cases are separate incidents and nothing in the available reporting ties them together beyond both unfolding in Arcata and involving older victims.
