Boulder Councilmember Tara Winer attacked during restaurant opening in University Hill

A ribbon-cutting ceremony in Boulder on Friday night turned into chaos when a man disrupted a restaurant opening and physically attacked a city councilmember, according to police and victim accounts.

On social media platform X, the Boulder Police Department reported an incident at about 6:30 p.m. near 1120 13th St. in the University Hill neighborhood. Police said three people sustained minor injuries.

One of the victims was Boulder City Councilmember Tara Winer, according to police.

In a phone interview with The Denver Gazette on Sunday, the councilmember said she was "fine" but expressed anger after allegedly being punched in the face and knocked to the ground by a man disrupting the opening of Nana's Dim Sum and Dumplings, according to Winer.

Winer reported injuries which included a small headache and a pair of bruised ribs. During the incident, Winer claimed the man went "absolutely ballistic" during the opening ceremony, allegedly yelling racial slurs at 11-year-old children performing a Chinese cultural act.

"It felt ... like a hate crime to be doing this to these kids," Winer said.

Afterward, Winer said, she followed the man, asked for him to turn around for a picture to report him, and then was attacked in an area across the street from an Illegal Pete's restaurant.

There, two security guards from Illegal Pete's and Boulder Chamber ambassador Matthew Jensen "saved my life," Winer said. "I did not know that the attacker had a knife."

Police said they arrested the suspect, identified as 26-year-old Chase Raskin, after the attack on suspicion of felony menacing and two counts of third-degree assault.

The motive for the attack is under investigation.

Winer said she is pressing charges.

"He was terrorizing the community," she said. "If he gets out (on bond), I'm going to be seriously so mad, because he should be in jail."

Since the attack, Winer has reflected on its impact on both herself and the community.

"I am trying really hard to get people to go support our local businesses and restaurants," she said. "The last thing I want from this is for people to say, 'Oh, it's too dangerous. I am not going to go to the Hill or downtown to support businesses.'"

She added, "I don't want this incident to draw people away from supporting the community."