Two e-biking teens charged with felony assault in attack on Hermosa Beach man
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- Two teenage boys, identified by police as the primary assailants in the attack on a Hermosa Beach man, have been charged with felony assault.
- Hermosa Beach police identified five boys ages 13 to 15 involved in the assault and said further charges could be filed once the department completes its investigation.
Charges have been filed against two teens who were arrested after surveillance cameras recorded a group of boys on e-bikes attacking a man near the Hermosa Beach Pier until he was knocked unconscious, police said.
The teens were each charged with one felony count of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, according to the L.A. County district attorney’s office.
They are accused of being the primary assailants in the Nov. 21 attack on a 57-year-old resident in an alleyway near the pier and were arrested on Nov. 26, according to the Hermosa Beach Police Department.
Attorney J. Patrick Carey, who is representing one of the teens, said that the minors were responding to violence by an adult against their 14-year-old friend and that the video circulating of the attack is not a fair representation of all that transpired.
“The evidence will show that the minors reacted when an adult man aggressively confronted and attacked their friend,” he said in a statement to The Times. “Their conduct occurred in direct response to that aggression and in an effort to protect him.”
Attorney Glen T. Jonas, who is representing the other teen, said in a statement that the “alleged victim, a heavily intoxicated adult, was in fact the initial aggressor that assaulted young minors.”
Whether the force the boys used in defense against the intoxicated adult was legally reasonable is subject to many variables, Jonas added.
The Hermosa Beach Police Department has identified five boys ages 13 to 15 who were involved in the incident, which remains under investigation, Chief Landon Phillips said.
Once all interviews are completed, the department will present the case to the district attorney’s office to determine whether additional criminal charges should be filed against anyone else, he said.
Students at Manhattan Beach Middle School were involved in the incident, the school’s principal, Matthew Horvath, has confirmed.
The victim, who was transported to a hospital for treatment, is continuing to recover from his injuries, Phillips said.
“We want to thank our residents and our businesses for helping to provide the video, which was instrumental in getting as much information on this case as we could,” Phillips said. “We also want to thank the school officials that have assisted in identifying the juveniles.”
The surveillance camera recording of the attack sent shock waves through the affluent and tight-knit coastal community, with many residents demanding consequences for the teens’ behavior. The video shows the teens shoving the man to the ground and repeatedly punching him and kicking him in the head.
“One thing we want our community to know is that our detectives made this a top priority,” Phillips said. “Our detectives had other operations planned; all of that was canceled so we could focus all of our time on this investigation, and it yielded some positive results.”
The attack ignited simmering community tensions over bad behavior — such as vandalism, harassment and speeding — linked to teenagers on e-bikes.
Defense attorney Carey said the incident was not part of any pattern of coordinated attacks by kids on e-bikes.
Jonas, the other defense attorney, said: “Social media hijacked the incident to promote a narrative that plays into everyone’s frustrations and fears regarding a general e-bike problem.”
The city of Hermosa Beach enacted an emergency ordinance in June 2024 that set new rules for juvenile e-bikers and gave police the authority to impound the bikes of unsafe riders.
Phillips said the department was increasing its presence and e-bike enforcement efforts in the downtown Hermosa and Strand areas in the aftermath of the assault.
A court protective order was granted on Dec. 3 preventing any information about the suspects or materials relating to the police case from being disclosed. The two minors are due back in court for a pretrial hearing on Jan. 12., according to the district attorney’s office.
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