36-year-old Oakland resident Joshua Daniels claims he was assaulted by city workers at Frank Ogawa Plaza right outside of Oakland City Hall after he tossed his used chewing gum into a trash bin. Daniels tried to get footage of the incident with his iPhone, but instead ended up with 10 stitches and a broken eye socket.

Daniels, who tells the Chronicle he was a boxer in high school but now does his sparring as a community activist at Oakland City Council meetings, said he was walking through Frank Ogawa Plaza around 8:30 a.m. Sunday when he tossed his gum into a rolling trash bin used by two city workers blowing leaves. The two workers confronted him, telling him, "You don't belong here" and "we're going to beat your ass."

Daniels says he filmed the verbal assault for almost two minutes before one of the workers smacked his phone to the ground, grabbed him by the collar and started beating him. Daniels woke up bloody about an hour later on the floor of his apartment. The last thing he remembers is his head ringing before he passed out.

The undoubtedly confused Daniels was taken to Highland Hospital after a neighbor called the police. He received 10 stitches and is sporting a nasty shiner on the pages of the Chronicle today.

The phone and the footage of the incident are apparently gone — Daniels thinks the city workers must have destroyed the evidence — but a spokeswoman for Oakland's Public Works said the agency is conducting their own internal probe.

Oakland Police and city officials are also looking into the incident, but are withholding comment until the investigation is complete. Daniels, meanwhile, told the Chronicle that he knows to "expect violence" in Oakland, but "never did I think I would have to protect myself against the public works guys blowing leaves on Frank Ogawa Plaza."


[Chron]