A disturbing video captures the moment a mob violently assaulted a 17-year-old high school senior during a rock concert in Palmdale, California.
The family of Elijah Green is calling on Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman to pursue hate crime charges against the four males caught on video repeatedly punching and kicking him as he lay curled on the ground, ABC7 Eyewitness News reports. Green’s family has filed a criminal complaint, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is actively investigating the incident.
“As a mother, watching my son get nearly beaten to death by a racist mob, while no one helped him, is something I’ll never forget,” Roneika Green, the victim’s mother, said in a statement. “He did everything he could to protect himself, but he never had a chance. My son was beaten because he’s Black. This is clearly a hate crime, and I demand justice.”
Green says he was at an open field rock concert last month when he was suddenly targeted in an unprovoked attack by a group of males, some of whom he recognized from a party the night before. At that party, he said he had lost his balance and accidentally bumped into a young woman who then accused him of groping her. Green said he apologized immediately, but the woman remained visibly upset.
“The moment I turn around, someone comes from behind and punched me in the back of my head, and I just started getting jumped,” Green said of the attack. “No one came to help me.”
Green said he had hoped to see the girl he accidentally bumped into at the concert to clear the air, but she wasn’t there. Instead, he claims several of the same men from the party showed up and, without any clear reason, attacked him while hurling racial slurs.
“There was no confrontation leading up to it,” he said.
Green’s mother was heartbroken when she arrived home to see her son bloody and bruised from the beating.
“His ear was swollen, his finger was dislocated from trying to protect himself,” she said. “It just makes me cry because this is my child.”
The teen’s family is demanding justice and wants the attackers charged with a hate crime.
“Hate has no place in our community,” the DA’s office said in a statement. “These crimes, if proven true, attack our sense of safety, dignity, and community. While a case has not yet been presented to our office for filing consideration, we will pursue the maximum, appropriate penalties for any hate crime that has been filed, which we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt.”
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