LONG BEACH, CA – A 12 year-old California boy who was taking the bus to go visit his grandmother was the victim of a vicious and completely unprovoked beating from a 40 year-old man while the other passengers sat there and did absolutely nothing about it, police say.
According to the boy’s father, Billy Brown, his son was taking the bus by himself on Sunday to visit his grandmother in Long Beach when, at approximately 2 p.m., the bus parked at Atlantic Avenue and Carson Street and a 40 year-old Hispanic man entered the vehicle and sat next to the child.
Almost right away, Brown said, the man tapped his son’s shoulder and then immediately attacked him, striking him multiple times without warning or provocation, all while the onlookers on the bus did absolutely nothing whatsoever to assist.
“The guy sucker-punched my son and hit him right in the face and just got to whaling on my son for no reason and of course, this is disturbing,” Brown said. “My son tells me that the guy then grabbed his shirt and slung him around to the other side of the bus and continued to beat on him and all this time, there are passengers on the bus and there’s a bus driver, and no one does anything to intervene.”
According to reports from local media, the child – whose name is not being revealed due to his status as a minor – stated that he tried to defend himself as best as he could, but was quickly overpowered by the much larger, older man.
“He was just mad and he started hitting me and stuff in the head,” the boy said, reiterating his father’s statement that no one helped him. “I tried to protect myself and I tried to block some of the hits, but I couldn’t block all of them.”
Eventually, the man ceased his attack, grabbed his bag, and exited the parked bus. It was only then that the boy said that a single passenger asked if he would like to call the authorities.
Police noted that they were investigating the attack, aided by video footage and stills of the incident provided by the Long Beach Transit officials to identify the suspect; Wednesday, officials announced that a suspect in the attack, 36-year-old David Manuel Santana Garcia, had been located and placed under arrest.
Garcia has been charged with child cruelty, assault, battery, and other public transportation-related charges, police say.
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