AIDS Victim Accused of Truck Attack

A man who said he is an AIDS victim and was angry about delays in getting MediCal benefits crashed a pickup truck through the glass doors of a Social Security building on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood on Sunday, police said.

Los Angeles Police Sgt. Phil Agnell said prosecutors will be asked to charge Timothy McBride, 27, of West Hollywood with felony vandalism in the incident, which caused more than $5,000 in damage to the building at 6730 Sunset Blvd. McBride was in jail Sunday, Agnell said.

“He says he was tired of filling out the paper work to get MediCal benefits and he wasn’t getting the help he needed and he wanted to get an attorney to help him,” the sergeant said.

“ ‘Now I’ll have an attorney to help me with the forms,’ ” Agnell quoted McBride as saying.

No injuries were reported in the incident, which occurred about 6:30 a.m.

“As I understand it,” Agnell said, “he was at a dead stop, turned his truck so it faced the windows, backed up as far as it could go to get a good shot, burned rubber, accelerated and went in.”

Agnell said that McBride got out of the truck and was walking away when police, who had been directed to him by witnesses, approached him. “So they asked him and he said, ‘Yup, I did it,’ ” Agnell said.

Delays in receiving Social Security and MediCal benefits are a common complaint among victims of AIDS and AIDS-Related Complex, or ARC. McBride, who complained of respiratory problems, told police he had been out of work for two years.