SC man treated at hospital following bizarre encounter

A Santa Cruz man was attacked by a 39-year-old hitchhiker and self-proclaimed vampire, who lunged at him, bit his neck and sucked blood from his jugular vein.

The bizarre assault occurred Friday night in San Francisco, where Santa Cruz resident Joshua Roise, 28, was dropping off hitchhiker Eric Knight, a Santa Cruz transient.

Roise told San Francisco police he had picked Knight up near Santa Cruz and offered to drive him to San Francisco. He said he was dropping him off in the parking lot of Cala Foods at Haight and Stanyan streets about 10:30 p.m., but that before leaving the car, Knight latched on to Roise’s neck.

"It looked like the hitchhiker was going to give him a bear hug, but then he chomped down on this guy’s neck," San Francisco police inspector Sherman Ackerson said.

Roise told police Knight pinned his arms down, took a bite from his neck and sucked his blood during a two-minute struggle before fleeing the car.

Roise flagged down a patrol officer, who took him on a search for Knight. After a brief pursuit, Knight was arrested in Golden Gate Park.

Knight told police he had an illness that left him unable to eat food and that he needed blood to survive, according to the police report.

"I need the cure. ... I need blood," Knight told officers.

Roise was taken by ambulance to the UC San Francisco Medical Center, according to the report. Authorities said he was treated and released. He could not be reached to comment Tuesday.

Knight pleaded innocent Tuesday to misdemeanor charges of aggravated mayhem and false imprisonment, said Fred Gardner of the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.

Knight, whose last known address was on Cedar Street in Santa Cruz, has previous battery arrests in Santa Cruz County.

On March 31, Knight was accused of assaulting a woman at Its Beach, police said.

"He walked up to the woman and told her, ‘You are part of my dynamics and you are part of my universe,’" Santa Cruz police Sgt. Steve Clark said. Knight then spun the woman toward him and wrapped his arms around her as if to give her a hug, according to the report. The woman fled.

About a week later, she saw Knight at the same beach and called police, who arrested Knight on suspicion of battery, Clark said. The charges were dismissed, according to court records.

In March 1999, Knight was arrested on battery and disturbing-the-peace charges. He was convicted of the latter charge. Details of that case were unavailable late Tuesday.