NORTH HILLS : 1 Held in Racially Motivated Beating

A man has been charged with a hate crime for a racially motivated attack on a black man in Van Nuys, the sixth report of a bias crime in the area in as many weeks, authorities said Tuesday.

The Los Angeles County district attorney’s office filed one count of assault with a deadly weapon with a special allegation of hatred and prejudice against Pedro Quintanilla, 22, of North Hills on Tuesday, police said.

The victim, a 31-year-old North Hills man whose name was not released, had left his car early Monday morning in the 8000 block of Langdon Avenue when he was approached by three Latino men, who pelted him with rocks and bottles, Detective Mitch Robins said. When the victim defended himself, all three men attacked him, Robins said. “While they were beating him, they were using racial slurs,” Robins said.

The victim escaped nearly unscathed, but Quintanilla suffered a head wound and was taken to the jail ward at County-USC Medical Center for treatment, Robins said.

In another incident Monday, a man was arrested on suspicion of a racially motivated assault after he used racial slurs and pulled a knife on an off-duty police officer at a Van Nuys fast food restaurant, police said. The suspect’s name was not released.