In June of 2008, self-described homeless person Ricky Green was attacked by a mob of six people in Bolinas, California.
The attackers included one adult female and two teenagers. Green was beaten about the head with skateboards, fists, and feet. He was also stabbed, and left lying in a pool of his own blood in a residential neighborhood not far from the entrance to Brighton Beach. The attackers were arrested and charged (initially with attempted murder, but the charges were later reduced in exchange for guilty pleas). All of the attackers were eventually convicted on various assault charges and sentenced to time in the Marin County Jail and, in two of the cases, state prison.
This was the first interview with Green, done in July 2008, about a month after the attack. We met over a spur-of-the-moment
lunch at the busy Canton Restaurant in Petaluma, with about an hours notice to put together the interview. Green, himself, was a controversial character, saying on one hand that he was peaceful and on a “spiritual” journey while at the same time becoming a lightning rod for the young toughs in Bolinas, many of whom reportedly think to this day that Green deserved his beating.
