Man shouted anti-gay slurs while bashing victim’s head into sidewalk

David Velasquez was already having a bad St. Patrick’s Day before a stranger in West Hollywood attacked him while shouting homophobic slurs.

Velasquez had gone to the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center earlier that day to treat his flu-like symptoms. He stopped by Pavilions supermarket in West Hollywood to pick up his prescriptions and was nearly hit by a car while riding home on his personal scooter around 9 p.m. Worried about holiday drunk drivers, he rode on the sidewalk even though it’s against the law — then, as he passed the Tender Greens restaurant on Santa Monica Boulevard, a man slapped him off of his scooter.

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“One of the guys who bought cookies, he was really funny because he said, ‘You’re gonna make me fat!'” the 7-year-old Girl Scout laughed.

“He just, like out of nowhere, slapped me with his left hand and smacked my helmet off, smacked me in the face,” Velasquez told WeHo Times. The two men began arguing. Velasquez said, “The next thing I know, he’s hitting me and wrestling me, trying to throw my phone into the street. He’s bashing my head and has his knee on top of my chest, trying to smash my head into the street – ‘Die f**got, die,’ he kept saying.”

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The attack stopped after a third man jumped out of a Chevy Suburban and intervened. By the time police arrived, the attacker — who was believed to have been intoxicated — fled. Another woman told Velasquez she wanted to press charges against the man because he had assaulted her as well.

Velasquez suffered from a cut lip, some head trauma, bruising, and bleeding from the attack. Police are asking for the public to call anonymous tips about the attack into Crimestoppers hotline at (800) 222-TIPS (8477) or at LACrimeStoppers.org.