2 Teens Held in Possible Hate Crime

Two teens were in custody Thursday after what police said was a racially motivated attack on a Latino teen and his white friend in Cypress on Wednesday night.

Trevor Carlson, 18, of Cypress and John Comley, 19, of Buena Park were arrested Thursday and charged with a hate crime and assault with a deadly weapon after they allegedly attacked the two friends.

Police said the victims were in front of a pizza parlor on Ball Road about 8 p.m. when the suspects passed in a vehicle and began yelling racial slurs at the 18-year-old Latino from Cypress. They then got out of their car, police said, and exchanged words with him and his white friend, a 19-year-old from Anaheim.

The suspects first attacked the white teen, beating him and kicking him as he fell to the ground, Cypress Police Lt. Mike Idom said. Then, as the Latino went to help, they attacked him. They fled when some customers exited the pizza parlor.

Idom said both suspects are believed to be white supremacists and that Comley belongs to a skinhead group. He said Comley was carrying a knife and a hammer, but investigators do not believe he used them during the attack.

Idom said that even though the white man was attacked first, investigators believe the incident was racially motivated because of the epithets.

“It’s not unusual in a situation like this,” Idom said, for a white man to be attacked by white supremacists, “because he was in the company of an Hispanic.”

The 19-year-old victim was taken to Los Alamitos Medical Center, where he was treated for swollen eyes and a cut on his nose. The 18-year-old suffered minor injuries that did not need medical treatment, authorities said.

Idom said the victims were able to provide the first name of one of the assailants. That helped detectives identify and arrest Carlson at 2 a.m. Thursday, then track down Comley. Both men were being held at Cypress City Jail on $50,000 bail.