Post-Dispatch Reporter Recovering at Hospital After Attack While Covering Ferguson
Kim Bell, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, August 10, 2015
Post-Dispatch reporter Paul Hampel was beaten, bloodied and robbed by a group of attackers as he covered the Ferguson protests Sunday night.
Hampel said he was taking photos and videos of break-ins along West Florissant Avenue shortly before he was attacked. Suddenly, he said, he was rushed from behind.
“I got swarmed, beaten down really bad,” he said.
The attackers punched him in the face, hit him in the head at least three times and kicked him in the back of the head when he was on the ground, Hampel said.
Paul Hampel
The attackers took his phone and wallet and left. Hampel headed back to the police line and encountered New York Times photographer Whitney Curtis. He told her he needed an ambulance.
Someone laid him down on the grass and he doesn’t remember much after that.
He said he suffered a concussion and was kept overnight at a hospital for evaluation. {snip}
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[Editor’s Note: Here is Mr. Hampel’s Twitter feed, which includes images and videos taken before the attack.]
