Just after midnight on Oct. 30, a Danish tourist was standing on a bustling, brightly-lit sidewalk near the Venice Beach Boardwalk when a man knocked something out of his hand and another man punched him in the face so hard that he fell to the ground.
The assault near Speedway and Washington Boulevard was captured on video and left the unidentified tourist unconscious, with a laceration on the right side of his head, according to the Los Angeles Police Dept., which released footage of the incident this weekend.
On Friday night, one of the suspects, Aiden Smith, 25, turned himself in at the LAPD Pacific Community Police Station, Officer Rosario Cervantes, a department spokesperson, said.
Cervantes said Smith was booked in the Van Nuys jail.
Police are still searching for the other suspect.
The LAPD said in a statement Saturday that the attack happened at about 12:35 a.m. and that the Danish man was treated by paramedics at the scene and taken to a hospital, where he was treated for “serious injuries.”
Surveillance footage shows the victim standing near a street pole, looking at what appears to be a cellphone, when a man in a blue beanie smacks the left side of his head, then knocks something out of his hand and steps on it when the man goes to pick it up.
The footage also shows the Danish man standing near an overflowing trash can on the busy sidewalk near the Venice Boardwalk — surrounded by bright green rental bikes, with multiple people standing nearby and walking past — when the man in the blue beanie and a second man in a black Los Angeles Dodgers hat approach.
The second man punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground.
Los Angeles City Councilmember Traci Park, who represents Venice, wrote in a social media post Saturday that the man who threw the punch had been arrested.
“In a lawless act of violence, an innocent tourist was attacked by two men and left unconscious by the Venice pier on October 30,” Park wrote, adding that “as leadership changes in City Hall, this is another important reminder that public safety must remain a top priority.”
The post Beating of Danish tourist near Venice Boardwalk captured on video, one suspect arrested appeared first on Los Angeles Times.
