Mountain View police are seeking the public's help in determining whether a head injury sustained by a local man on New Year's Eve was an accident or a crime, the department announced Monday.

According to police, the man is believed to have suffered a head injury on Jan. 1 sometime between 1:30 and 2:30 a.m. However, the injury was not deemed dangerous until later in the week, when he was taken to the hospital due to symptoms from severe blunt force trauma to the head. He is currently unable to communicate with detectives "due to the severity of his injuries," police said.

According to police, the night went as follows:

The man and his girlfriend had hired a limo for the evening. As they were returning home, the man began to argue with the driver. When the limo arrived at the couple's home, the woman got out while the man remained in the limo and told the driver to take him to a fast food restaurant.

The limo driver called police a few minutes later to report that the man had jumped out of the vehicle near the intersection of Middlefield Road and Ferguson Drive. Police found the man soon after and drove him home, dropping him off in front of his house around 1:30 a.m. At that time the man had been drinking but was not legally drunk, and had no apparent injuries, police said.

The man did not return home until 2:30 a.m., according to his girlfriend. He appeared to have a black eye, but there were no other visible injuries at the time. Later that week, however, it became clear that his injury required medical attention.

"There is no obvious criminal element," said police spokesperson Liz Wylie, "The question is, is this [incident] criminal or is this an accident?"

The victim is described as a 32-year-old black male, 6 feet 3 inches tall and 200 pounds. At the time of the incident he was wearing a black leather jacket, a red long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans.

Anyone with information is asked to call Detective Kevin Solomon at (650) 903-6356.

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