A male Huntington Beach High School student has been arrested after allegedly beating a visually impaired boy in an incident that was captured on video by a bystander, police announced Thursday.
Footage showing part of the confrontation, which ended when a third boy knocked the suspected assailant to the ground, went viral after it was posted online.
The incident began about 12:30 p.m. Wednesday and initially involved two students who “know each other and have a history of not getting along,” the Huntington Beach Police Department said in a statement.
As the visually impaired boy walked past the other teenager, an argument broke out that resulted in the first student being struck several times by the other one, according to investigators.
Another boy saw the fight and “intervened to prevent the suspect from further assaulting the victim,” the statement said.
The video shows the intervening student striking one of the boys before asking him: “You’re trying to jump a f—— blind kid, bro?”
There was no apparent connection between the initial altercation and the victim’s visual impairment, which did not render him defenseless, police said.
A witness’ video was posted to YouTube, where the original upload was viewed thousands of times before being removed by the website.
The suspected “primary aggressor” in the incident was arrested on suspicion of misdemeanor battery and released to his parents, said Officer Jennifer Marlatt, spokeswoman for the Police Department.
The student who intervened in the fight was not expected to be arrested, according to Marlatt.
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