A man who allegedly punched an Asian grandfather, causing his infant grandchild’s stroller to flip over, was arrested Wednesday, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Nearby security camera footage captured the seemingly unprovoked attack Tuesday, during which a 60-year-old man pushing a stroller in the suburb of Calabasas was knocked to the ground by a male assailant. The attacker then got in his car and drove off.
After police released photos of the man in the video, Angel Sanchez Jr., 29, was arrested for assault with force likely to produce great bodily injury. He is also a suspect in the attack on a 14-year-old Asian boy the same afternoon.
The teenager, Nathan Manyari, spoke to NBC Los Angeles about what happened to him that day, saying that he was on the way to his Calabasas boxing gym when a man randomly attacked him.
“He just came up from behind me and grabbed me,” he said. “He tried to hit the back of my head first and then he tried kneeing my body. … I protected myself pretty good. I hit him in the stomach but it wasn’t really that effective. He kept grabbing my shirt, he threw me. He kind of tossed me into bushes, I rolled down a little hill. He just walked off, didn’t say anything.”
Manyari said he immediately ran to his gym and told his coach what happened.
The teenager suffered scratches and bruising all over his body, which he showed NBC LA. He said his boxing experience helped him stay calm. It was unclear if the grandfather and infant grandchild assaulted that day suffered injuries as well.
A police report pointed out that the victims share the same ethnicity, but said the motive for the attacks is still being investigated.
It wasn’t clear at the time of publication if Sanchez had been assigned a lawyer or has entered a plea. (NBC)