A suspect remains at large after a man was brutally beaten on a West Hollywood sidewalk, leaving him hospitalized.
The unprovoked attack happened on March 17 as the victim, David Velasquez, was riding a scooter home from the store after purchasing cough medicine.
“I was heading east and he was coming back this way and that’s when, for no apparent reason, he slapped me across the face,” Velasquez said.
The attack left him bloodied and with head trauma.
“I was lucky to have survived,” he said. “My whole life was flashing before my eyes as he was pounding my head into the ground.”
Velasquez said the attack happened as he was traveling on the sidewalk near Santa Monica Boulevard and Hancock Avenue.
The male suspect allegedly yelled a homophobic slur at Velasquez. That’s when he decided to confront the suspect — a decision he said he now regrets.
“He was on top of me with his knee trying to slam my head back into the pavement saying ‘Die, f***** die!’” Velasquez recalled.
Residents in the area were shocked to hear of the vicious attack, with some saying crime in West Hollywood has been steadily increasing.
“I’ve lived here 18 years and I can say in the last three years or so, it’s terrible,” said resident Chad Cromer.
Cromer said he feels unsafe walking the streets nowadays and that he has also been a victim of street crime in the city.
“It’s very dangerous,” Cromer said. “It was about six months ago. I was walking and two little young kids saw my jewelry. They hit me in my face and they ran away when they realized I stood up to them.”
As Velasquez was being assaulted, he said bystanders had stopped to watch and record the attack on their cell phones, but nobody stepped in to help until a man who was driving nearby jumped out of his car to intervene.
“I’m screaming out for help and nobody wanted to help me,” Velasquez said.
After he escaped the attacker thanks to the good Samaritan’s help, he said, “I called the police and then another girl [nearby] said, ‘I’m going to press charges too because he assaulted me as well.’”
Both Cromer and Velasquez believe something needs to be done to address the troubling rise in daily crime. They said they would like to see more law enforcement patrolling the streets and more action from local lawmakers to address these attacks.
“The fact is we don’t have the police force like we did before,” Cromer said. “They have these community police officers but they’re not doing much. They stand on the corners and they don’t really participate or have interaction with anybody. They talk, but they don’t do the walk and people are getting frustrated and that’s why people are moving.”
Velasquez said he was fortunate to escape with non-life-threatening injuries, but he fears the next victim may not be so lucky. He’s hoping the suspect will be captured soon.
“People being attacked for no reason, I don’t want him to do this to another person,” Velasquez said. “He was clearly capable of doing this to someone else.”
The suspect was described as a 6-foot-tall white man in his 30s. Velasquez said he was well-dressed and very intoxicated at the time.
“Any assault, as well as any assault that would involve hate crime activity, needs to be fully investigated,” said John Erickson, Mayor of West Hollywood. “We have more sheriffs on the street than we ever had and we have more unarmed security ambassadors walking along the street, especially in our entertainment district, than we’ve ever had before.”
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the case and searching for additional victims and witnesses to track down the suspect.
Anyone with information on the incident can call the West Hollywood Sheriff’s Station at 310- 855-8850.
Anonymous tips can be provided to L.A. Regional Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or online at lacrimestoppers.org.