San Diego

A transient who was spending the night outside the Pacific Beach Presbyterian Church was temporarily blinded Friday morning when another man threw a caustic chemical in his face, San Diego police said.

Frank Clark, 42, was preparing to go to sleep on the church grounds at the corner of Jewell Street and Garnet Avenue when the other man approached him and threw the chemical in his eyes, said police spokesman Bill Robinson. Police were called about 2:30 a.m. after Clark sought help from a nearby resident, Robinson said.

Clark was taken to Mission Bay Hospital, where he was treated and released, a hospital spokeswoman said. The chemical was determined to be muriatic acid, a substance used to clean swimming pools, Robinson said.

Clark told police that he knew the man, also a transient, and had been fighting with him earlier, Robinson said. Officers later arrested 39-year-old Edward Eash and booked him into County Jail on suspicion of mayhem and assault with a caustic chemical.