3 Teenagers Accused of Hate Crime

Three teenagers from Pacific Palisades were arrested Friday in West Hollywood for allegedly spraying urine on two people from a passing car.

The boys apparently had driven to West Hollywood with the intention of spraying gay men with urine, Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies said.

The juveniles, two 16-year-olds and a 14-year-old, were booked for conspiracy to commit a hate crime and for assault with a caustic chemical. They were released to the custody of their parents, Sgt. Mike Parker said.

Deputies in the Special Problems Unit of the West Hollywood sheriff’s station had set up surveillance at Santa Monica and San Vicente boulevards to attempt to catch a vehicle arsonist. About 1:30 a.m., a plainclothes deputy on a bicycle saw occupants of a 1987 Nissan spray two men with a liquid, Parker said.

The deputy radioed a patrol car, whose officers stopped the boys’ car a short distance away. Four spray bottles containing 64 ounces of a substance believed to be urine were found in the car, Parker said.

Parker said that it was unclear if the district attorney would file charges and that it would be up to prosecutors whether to turn the matter over to juvenile authorities. A hate crime is a felony, defined as the use of force or threat of force to injure, interfere with or intimidate because of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation, he said.