Georgetown Doctor Says He Was Beaten Up While Trying to Stop Looters on Sunday

Caesar Junker said he was heading out for a nighttime bite of pizza on Sunday when he saw them: more than 100 people in hoodies looting stores with abandon all along M Street. {snip}

Junker, a sports medicine doctor and a colonel in the Air Force, spotted police standing nearby, watching but doing nothing. He took out his phone and began filming, not necessarily intending to intervene, but lost his temper when the vandals began targeting Sebago, a footwear store whose owners he has known for years. {snip}

“Stop!” he yelled. {snip}

{snip} He kept urging the police to step in — and he kept hoping that someone else from the neighborhood would join him and help restore calm.

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There was momentary relief when more police showed up. {snip} But a few minutes later, without Junker realizing it, the police disappeared. The looters came trickling back. Suddenly, it was just Junker, alone on the street, and six of the looters — four women and two men — had started to pay attention to him.

They advanced and Junker, realizing their intentions, broke into a run. {snip} Someone stuck out a leg, and Junker was suddenly sprawled on the pavement as fists and legs pummeled him from all sides. The men seemed especially determined to hit his face, and although Junker tried to repel them, something sharp split open his forehead and someone tore out the cartilage of his ear before Junker could scramble up and get away.

His memory of how he escaped is hazy: All he can really recall are the cries of “Get him!” and the feeling of being bludgeoned against hard concrete.

Adrenaline pumping hard enough to block out the pain, Junker ran toward where he’d last seen police, and eventually his pursuers lost interest and left him alone. He’s still not entirely sure why they didn’t just beat him to death.

Dazed, with blood streaming down his face, Junker sat in the road directly in front of Georgetown’s 7-Eleven for what felt like ages — but was probably five minutes — until his head cleared enough for him to realize he should probably call a friend. Around when he picked up his cellphone, police finally arrived. {snip}

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By the time the ambulance arrived, Junker had decided he would rather drive himself to the hospital.

He was released from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center around 5 a.m. Monday, after receiving stitches on his forehead and surgery to repair his ear. {snip}

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