A Black teenager was left with a concussion, chipped teeth and several abrasions after a group of teenage boys attacked him in a Simi Valley parking lot while shouting racial slurs, authorities said.
Five boys, all ages 16 and 17, were charged Friday in connection with the attack, according to the Ventura County district attorney’s office.
Three of them face special allegations of a hate crime, authorities said.
The incident was captured on video. The recording shows the teens ganging up on Michael Robinson, 18, in a Regal Cinemas parking lot around 11 p.m. on Aug. 1.
The boys can be seen throwing punches and heard saying the N-word as they chase Robinson around the lot. Two other victims were also harmed in the attack, prosecutors said.
Robinson told Fox 11 Los Angeles that the group first targeted his friends and then turned on him, slamming him into the hood of a car, pushing his head into a trash can and repeatedly punching him in the back of the head.
“Honestly, I thought I was going to die,” he told the station.
The incident sparked outrage across the Simi Valley community, with several residents calling on police to investigate it as a hate crime during an Aug. 4 City Council meeting. The Ventura County branch of the NAACP urged an independent inquiry into the attack.
One of the five alleged attackers is the son of a Simi Valley police sergeant, according to department spokesperson Ryan Morton. The boy’s father was not part of the law enforcement response to the attack and is not involved in the investigation, Morton said.
Morton said that the Aug. 1 incident was connected to a previous altercation between the same two sets of teens. Two of the alleged attackers were also charged for another altercation in the same parking lot on May 30.
“He [Robinson] was hunted down, and it was very disgusting,” Robinson’s guardian, Brittany Martin, told Fox 11. “This is not the first time that these kids are actually doing this.”
Three of the alleged attackers have been charged with felony assault and special allegations of a hate crime, prosecutors said. A fourth was charged with felony assault, misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor criminal threats, while a fifth was charged with misdemeanor threats and misdemeanor battery.
None of their names have been released, as they are all minors.
They are all scheduled to be arraigned at the Ventura County Juvenile Justice Center in Oxnard on Oct. 10, prosecutors said. The courtroom will be open to the public for cases involving the four teens with felony charges, prosecutors said.
“Hate crimes spread fear, division and violence throughout an entire community,” Ventura County Dist. Atty. Erik Nasarenko said in a statement. “Our office is committed to holding these youths accountable and ensuring that justice is delivered for the victims and our community.”
Simi Valley Mayor Dee Dee Cavanaugh called the video of the attack “heart-breaking.”
“We extend our support to Michael, his family, and all in Simi Valley who have been impacted by this hateful and traumatic incident,” she said in the Aug. 7 statement. “Let me be clear: Violence, harassment, racism, discrimination, the use of racial slurs, and gang-related activity have no place in Simi Valley.”
