SEATTLE — Ryan Georg sits in his Thurston County living room singing a Johnny Cash classic and strumming his guitar.
For him, it’s a form of therapy.
"Music is the only constant in my life. It's my anchor and my ground,” Georg said.
It's taken him six months of hard work to get here.
Georg and his fiancée, Cherry Cash, were leaving El Corazon in Seattle on Nov. 14 after seeing a show with family and friends. They got into a war of words with people living in a homeless camp across the street and things quickly escalated.
“It just all happened so fast, it felt like a flash,” Cash said.
According to Seattle police, a group of five to 10 homeless people started following Georg and Cash. They knocked Georg to the ground and hit him in the head with a baseball bat.
“We were yelling at them, like, ‘Stop, you're going to kill him,’” Cash said. “It was the scariest thing I've ever, ever had to go through in my entire life."
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Georg woke up at Harborview Medical Center, hooked up to machines.
"I couldn't believe that a human being could do that. My first thought after hearing that was, there's got to be more to the story,” he said.
Georg was in the Army and deployed to Iraq, but it was in Seattle he was attacked. He now has seizures, a speech impediment and vertigo. He uses a wheelchair, can't drive and wears sunglasses all the time.
Following the attack, Seattle police booked Lonnie Sanderson into jail for false reporting. He was later released.
Last month, the King County Prosecutor's Office issued a warrant for Sanderson’s arrest.
"It's just scary that they're still out there and they can hurt other people,” Cash said.
For Ryan, life may never be the same. He's calling on the city to change.
"Start to take action to work against the homeless problem, because people are suffering," Georg said. "I'm going to be OK, Seattle. OK, so fix the problem."
Click here to view a GoFunMe for Georg.
Cox Media Group
