Visiting lawyer badly beaten in CBD attack
Bill Callaham suffered a broken jaw and cheekbone and several lost teeth in an attack in the CBD last week.
Paul Murphy / Eyewitness News 6:57 p.m. CST December 19, 2014
NEW ORLEANS - A California attorney in town to speak at at a legal association meeting decided to take in some of New Orleans' renowned music in the French Quarter.
Afterward, enjoying the nice weather, Bill Callaham, a frequent visitor to the city, decided to walk back to his hotel. He didn't get there. Instead, Callaham spent the next few days having steel plates inserted into his jaw so he could make a flight home to California where he is slated for several more surgeries to repair a jaw broken in six places, a broken cheek bone, two knocked out teeth and a split lip.
Callaham said he received the injuries on Dec. 11 from an attack by a group of young men.
Callaham doesn't know the exact location, but says he was about four blocks into the CBD from Canal Street when he saw three black men approach him from the other side of the street.
"They were kind of coming from a diagonal, to the sidewalk I was on and one of them said something to me, I don't even recall what it was," said Callaham. "I ignored them and continued walking. I didn't turn around. I didn't look back."
He says the next thing he remembers is getting up off the sidewalk.
"I remember leaning on a trash receptacle for support, trying to get my senses of what was going on."
Callaham says two women stopped their car to help him. They ended up dropping him off at Tulane Hospital's Emergency room.
"I could tell my jaw was broken, I knew I was bleeding everywhere from my face."
A few hours later, New Orleans Police Officers took a statement from Callaham.
The NOPD released a brief description from the officer's notes.
"NOPD officers observed several injuries to the victim's face. Hospital medical personnel advised that the victim's jaw was fractured, he had lacerations to his top and bottom lips and his front teeth were chipped. The victim was in possession of all of his property at the time of the report."
Police do not appear to have any suspects at this time and the investigation is ongoing.
Callaham was in New Orleans to speak at a legal seminar sponsored by the Louisiana Association of Justice.
The local legal community sent out a memo, telling members about what happened to Callaham.
Callaham stayed with long time friends and Metairie attorneys Harry and Mary Widmann after getting out of the hospital.
Harry Widmann says there's a lack of care for the safety for our guests and visitors.
"I think we have an insurgency of predators in this city that are viciously attacking people and something really has to be done about it," said Widmann. "If you have friends or visitors coming into town, warn them, offer them a ride, tell them to take a taxi cab because, very simply, our streets are not safe."
Callaham's jaw was fractured in six places. He also had a concussion, a broken nose and a laceration on his chin.
He says he will be on a liquid diet, with bands on his teeth for the next 6 to 8 weeks.
Callaham says he's been to New Orleans many times and would return to the city when his wounds heal.
"I'll be a little more careful next time of where I go and maybe not go out alone," he said.
Callaham is now recovering back home in Sacramento.
http://www.wwltv.com/story/news/local/orleans/2014/12/19/lawyer-beaten-quarter/20652659/
