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Men Sought in Alleged Attack on City Worker

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TIMES STAFF WRITER

Authorities are searching for three young men suspected of attacking a city of Santa Clarita employee and making racial slurs after the worker refused them entry into a skate park.

The victim, a 33-year-old African American man, had asked the men to leave the closed skate park at about 8 p.m. Monday, but they refused, said Sgt. Howard Fairchild of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department. The park is popular with skateboarders and in-line skaters, Fairchild said.

One man then made a derogatory racial remark and attacked the employee, according to authorities. A fight and more racial epithets allegedly followed. The young men, all of whom are white, fled after the employee said that deputies were on their way.

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No one was believed to have been badly injured, Fairchild said.

Though the incident “didn’t start off” as being a hate crime, it is being classified and investigated as a possible hate crime “because of the statements they made,” said Fairchild, referring to the young men.

California Penal Code section 422.6 prohibits a person from willfully injuring, intimidating, interfering with, oppressing, or threatening another person because of the person’s race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, disability, gender or sexual orientation. The law imposes a maximum penalty of a year in county jail, a $5,000 fine and 400 hours of community service.

The men are about 20 years old, have brown hair and brown eyes, and stand about 5-foot-9 to 5-foot-10. Two weigh about 160 pounds and a third weighs about 180, according to authorities. The men left the park in three vehicles, including a black Honda and a red Ford Ranger pickup with a white camper shell.

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Anyone with more information is asked to call Fairchild at (661) 255-1121.

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