Elderly Woman Attacked For Protecting Geese From Kid, Sustains Life-Threatening Injuries

An elderly woman, who has not been named in the media, has suffered life-threatening injuries after a bizarre fracas between the victim and the father of a young boy in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.

The story of the goose-loving grandma and overprotective dad begins as many nowadays do — and the angle is vastly different depending on how you look at the story. Firstly, only one account is known, as the woman’s assailant is, as of now, unknown — and the only witnesses to the attack appear to be the young boy, his father and the old woman.

But the little boy annoying the geese and the subsequent events that landed an old lady in the hospital with injuries that could well kill her could have gone down in several different ways. How often is it that you see a child misbehaving in public, sometimes terribly and dangerously, with nary a parent or caregiver in sight to set the tot straight — or a parent or caregiver buried in a smartphone, playing Words With Friends while the child in their charge runs riot in Starbucks?

And then again, how often have you been out in public with your kid when some busybody steps in and tells you how to raise your kid? Or worse, have you ever had a stranger in public touch your child, even benignly, to up a pacifier in his mouth or pick up a dropped bottle with God knows what on their hands?

So what happened here?

The woman, 82, reported seeing a child harming the geese in the park. And, as she tells police, she confronted the 5-year-old-ish boy about mistreating the animals. The kid’s dad appeared, and some sort of disagreement ensued — during which time, the old lady was knocked to the ground, at which time she became injured.

The kid’s father then walked her to the car, where she met up with her husband. On the drive home, she began to feel progressively worse, and wound up in the hospital. But other than that, little is known about who was involved or what happened between the lady, the kid, the dad and the geese.

Police are similarly mystified, and Golden Gate Park boathouse employee John Steele explained to SF Gate:

“It kind of puzzles me about what really happened,” he said. “Nobody really saw it. I don’t think there were any other witnesses but the guy, his kid and the lady.”

Authorities hope to speak with the father of the boy so as better to determine what occurred.