A man driving a pickup truck was pummeled by a group of young bicyclists during a broad daylight attack in the downtown Los Angeles jewelry district.
Video footage captured the moment the victim was knocked to the ground by a group of people who then stomped and kicked him ruthlessly near Hill and 6th Street on Thursday.
A witness said the fracas started when the cyclists claimed the man struck one of their bikes.
The victim, who has not been identified, covered his head as the assailants flung brutal kicks.
A group of local jewelers quickly arrived and yell at the group to stop.
One bystander could be seen removing his belt and whipping it around to scare off the cyclists.
After the beating, one of the suspects, who wasn’t wearing a shirt, could be seen bashing the victim’s white pickup truck with his bike handle.
The victim’s windshield appeared shattered in the video.
The LA Police Department said they got a call about the incident after 4 p.m., with witnesses reporting about 10 males on bicycles at the scene ranging in age from 15 to 18.
A group of bicyclists were caught on video brutally kicking and stomping a man in broad daylight on Thursday.KTLA5
After the attack, one of the people could be seen using his bicycle to attack the man’s vehicle.KTLA5
Officials said that by the time officers arrived, everyone involved in the attack had fled the scene, including the victim.
One witness told KTLA 5 that there were about six or seven young people on bikes in total and that the fight appeared to break out after the driver allegedly hit one of their bikes.
“That’s when they were able to catch up to him, banging on his windows, banging on his truck and then he pulled over and jumped out and he got [beaten],” the witness said. “It was horrible.”
The attack occurred in downtown Los Angeles’ jewelry district.KTLA5
A group of local jewelers could be seen breaking up the fight as everyone involved in the attack fled the scene.KTLA5
Roman Kim, who works at one of the nearby jewelry stores, said the cyclists were riding around the busy street like they “owned the road.”
“There are six guys on their bikes, just swerving in and out,” Kim told ABC 7, “which is kind of nuts because with how busy everything is, you can’t really be doing this.”
Kim said the attack appeared to be just the latest example of tempers flaring on the road in Los Angeles.
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The LAPD recorded nearly 30 percent more road rage incidents in the past 12 months than in both 2018 and 2019.
“You feel for the guy, but stuff like this is happening so much around here lately, you kind of start to get desensitized a little bit,” Kim said. “You want to keep that humanity and feel, but …”
Source: nypost.com
