Dr. Paramjit Chopra was in San Francisco last week to speak at the convention which is put on by the company Salesforce when he was violently attacked while walking blocks from the conference center in the South of Market neighborhood.
"This guy, I remember those eyes, actually. It's a little nightmarish for me, and I woke up with one last night, and I remember those eyes," he recounted. "I see this face. I don't even have time to recognize the face. Boom"
Chopra said the man rushed at him like a football player.
"He just launched me up," he said. "All I remember is hitting that floor hard, and a searing pain goes through my back."
Chopra said his head barely missed a lamp post, and he landed inches from a passing bus. The man ran away without a word and without taking anything.
"I don't hold it against the city, but we're the richest country in the world. C'mon. We've got to be able to have this kind of stuff sorted out," Chopra said.
The 62-year-old is an endovascular surgeon who has helped thousands of patients in Chicago and the suburbs for more than 30 years.
The incident happened on September 11, and Chopra, who is Sikh, is left wondering if the attack was racially motivated.
"The feeling I got was he saw me from a distance. He had premeditated this and came at me," he said.
San Francisco police told ABC7 that no one is in custody for the attack. Chopra declined medical attention at the scene, but spent the rest of the conference on pain medication and said he continues to suffer from back pain.