Viral footage last week showed a man approaching someone in the street and punching them from behind, knocking them to the ground—and knocking over the stroller the victim was pushing—before making his escape in a van parked nearby. It turned out the same suspect punched a second victim the same day, and was in custody within hours. Angel Sanchez Jr., 29, of Santa Barbara, was booked on suspicion of assault.
Although both victims of the assaults were of Asian-American/Pacific Islander descent, police say, the motive for the attacks is currently under investigation. … Authorities did not released the names of the victims, but Nathan Manyari, the teenager attacked on Tuesday, told NBC Los Angeles that he was on his way to the gym when he was randomly accosted.
"He just came up from behind me and grabbed me," he said. "He tried to hit the back of my head first and then he tried kneeing my body… I protected myself pretty good. I hit him in the stomach but it wasn't really that effective. He kept grabbing my shirt, he threw me. He kind of tossed me into bushes, I rolled down a little hill. He just walked off, didn't say anything."
The other attack was more disturbing, leaving both an older man and an infant on the ground in the middle of the road—all caught on camera by a nearby homeowner's security system. Both are OK, according to neighbors.
