Staff at Families Together of Orange County Community Health Center have made it their mission to help combat coronavirus, the medical provider’s Mobile Operations Manager, Parsia Jahanbani, said. That made them a target for those who deny the grim toll of the pandemic and believe the crisis was manufactured.

The medical group’s vaccination and COVID-19 screening facilities have been repeatedly picketed by protesters who accused them of making people sick. Some resentful patients — who say they are only getting the jab because their employer is forcing them to — often cite online articles suggesting health care workers are participating in a hoax. Staff receive threatening messages on a near-daily basis, Cassie Rossel, a spokeswoman for the care provider, said.

Sarah Flores, director of clinical education at Families Together of Orange County Community Health Center, located on First Street in Tustin, prepares the COVID-19 vaccination for those people with appointments on Thursday, March 4, 2021. The health center has done about 15,000 COVID-19 vaccinations since they began getting them. (Photo by Mark Rightmire, Orange County Register/SCNG)

“It was always in the back of our minds that something worse could happen,” Jahanbani said. “But when it finally did, we were all still shocked.”

He and other members of his team were running the medical provider’s mobile vaccine clinic in the parking lot of their offices at 661 W. First Street in Tustin when they were physically assaulted Thursday, Dec. 30. The attacker was a man they had never seen before who called them “murderers” and accused them of facilitating a conspiracy, Jahabani said.

The 43-year-old resident of Poway, who was eventually arrested by Tustin police on suspicion of battery and resisting arrest, had been pacing in the health care provider’s parking lot, where about 20 other people were waiting to receive booster shots, Jahanbani said. He refused to put on a mask when asked, and attempted to enter a closed area before security asked him to leave.

“He said ‘I don’t need a mask, I don’t have the virus and you are the ones making people sick,’” Jahanbani recalled. “And just every type of profanity you can imagine.”

The man was shouting at the top of his lungs with his fists clenched at his sides, and causing a scene in front of patients. Jahanbani and a colleague walked over to offer support to the security guard. That’s when the man lunged at them, Jahanbani said.

Jahanbani said he was punched several times before his colleague stepped between him and the assailant. The attacker knocked that coworker onto the ground and then rained punches down on him, all while calling clinic staff “murderers” and accusing them of causing the pandemic, Jahanbani said.

“You could just see the rage in his face at this point,” Jahanbani said.

Two patients who were waiting for booster shots had to help Jahanbani and the security guard in order to free the man pinned beneath the attacker. It took all five of them to hold the man down while police were summoned.

He was eventually handcuffed to a stretcher and taken into custody by police. He was yelling and kicking, even as he was shocked with a stun gun, Jahanbani said.

“He was shouting ‘you’re a part of this too!’ at the officers,” Jahanbani said.

Tustin Police Lt. Matt Nunley said a total of seven officers were dispatched to help take the man into custody. He declined to go into detail about how the arrest was executed.

The man was booked into Orange County Jail and then released Friday morning, according to inmate records. He is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 27.

The clinic employee who was knocked to the ground had bruising and swelling to his face, but did not suffer any broken bones, Jahanbani said. He added that he is deeply thankful for his coworker’s selfless and bravery.

“Our team have worked tirelessly to keep this community safe, and we will not tolerate any type of violence or threats against our staff, patients or volunteers,” Families Together of Orange County CEO Alexander Rossel said in a statement. “Therefore, we will be pursuing all action to the fullest extent of the law against this individual and will do everything in our power to make sure that this never happens again.”

Jahanbani said that he is ready to forgive the man who attacked them. He said that even though he disagrees with that person’s beliefs, he sympathizes with his frustration. He hopes that the man who was arrested might come to understand that health professionals are not his enemy.

“This isn’t a manmade problem,” Jahanbani said. “It’s happening to humanity, and we all have to unite together against it. We all want things to go back to normal, and that’s why we’re doing this.”

Families Together of Orange County has helped about 15,000 people get vaccinated, Jahanbani said.

Staff writer Caitlin Antonios contributed to this story.

Mobile Operations Manager Parsia Jahanbani waits for patients in the Families Together of Orange County mobile health clinic park outside the Westminster Family Resource Center in Westminster, CA, on Wednesday, August 18, 2021. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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