Bloody attack amid huge crowd of minors on e-bikes in O.C. ‘Out of nowhere,’ man says
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A Huntington Beach man said he was attacked over the weekend after he and his wife rode past a large group of teenagers on e-bikes near the beach.
Sam El-Said told The Times he was hit in the face with what he believed was a glass bottle thrown by someone in the crowd, and that multiple people kicked and stomped on him when he tried to navigate through dozens of the riders.
One minor was arrested, and Huntington Beach police said in a statement they were continuing an investigation into the attack.
The incident occurred Saturday about 8 p.m., according to police, after two people reported a confrontation with a group of minors on the beachside path.
The Santa Ana teen was traveling at around 35 mph on a black E Ride Pro electric motorcycle when he struck the median and lost control of the vehicle, according to authorities.
El-Said said he and his wife had gone out for dinner and drinks and were headed home, riding on electric scooters, when they came upon a group of what he estimated was more than a hundred teenagers on e-bikes.
The two were moving through the crowd when someone threw something that hit his face, causing him to bleed.
“Out of nowhere, I see something coming at me, and it breaks like a bottle,” he said.
He said someone then knocked him to the ground, and several people began to kick and stomp on him.
Videos of part of the incident, provided by El-Said to The Times, show a group of young men pushing him to the ground and people kicking, stomping and punching at him as a large crowd watches.
One video shows El-Said being pushed into a standing e-bike, falling to the ground and a group of at least six people kicking and punching him.
At that point, El-Said said, “my mindset is, I’ve got to fight for my life.”
One male, wearing a white sweater, is then seen pulling and keeping some of the crowd at bay, yelling at them to “chill.”
Someone is heard yelling expletives at him as El-Said gets to his feet and faces the crowd.
“They took off running” and on their e-bikes, El-Said said.
El-Said said he’d seen the large crowd of e-bike riders along the beach and Pacific Coast Highway for years now, acting unruly and at times causing confrontations with people on the road and on the beach.
His family were frequent visitors to Huntington Beach before moving there three years ago. The crowd of e-bike riders usually collects on the weekends and summer days, at times growing to hundreds of riders, he said.
He’s seen the crowd of young riders taking over streets, doing wheelies, blocking traffic, and yelling obscenities at people. Sometimes, he said, they seem to be playing “chicken” with cars, riding toward them and turning at the last second.
Once, a couple of years ago, he said, one e-bike-riding minor yelled an obscene comment at his wife as the two rode past on scooters, but they both ignored it.
“These things have happened,” El-Said said, “and we moved along.”
The incident on Saturday, however, was unexpected.
El-Said said he didn’t know what sparked the confrontation, and that neither he nor his wife said or noticed anything before the attack occurred.
As the crowd dispersed, El-Said said his wife called his son, who came as they waited for police. By the time officers arrived, however, the entire crowd of young people had dispersed.
El-Said said his son obtained a video showing the attack from someone in the crowd and began to look in the vicinity for people who appeared in the footage. He spotted one person at a nearby Dairy Queen. El-Said flagged down a nearby police car, and the individual was detained.
The minor who was detained was cited for misdemeanor battery, according to police.
On Tuesday, El-Said said he was notified by Huntington Beach police that a second person was detained in the incident. A spokesperson for the department did not immediately respond to a request for comment to confirm the second arrest.
Huntington Beach has become a popular meeting spot for e-bike riders, especially minors who arrange group rides through social media. Videos of some of the group rides through the city show, at times, hundreds of e-bike riders rolling through city streets.
The day before the attack, Huntington Beach conducted an operation targeting illegal e-bikes and electric motorcycles in the city, issuing 32 e-bike citations.
The Simi Valley community is mourning the loss of a 13-year-old baseball player who was fatally struck by an Amtrak train while riding an e-bike.
E-bikes are required to show a classification number, which identifies the vehicle’s top speed and motor wattage. In California, e-bikes are classified into three classes, including Class 1 pedal-assisted e-bikes that provide motor assistance under 20 mph.
Class 2 e-bikes have a throttle that allows users to operate them without pedaling, but the electric motors top out at 20 mph.
Class 3 e-bikes, with a top speed of 28 mph, can only be ridden by someone who is at least 16 years old.
Bikes that do not use pedals, have more than 750 watts of power, or can reach speeds higher than 28 mph are considered electric motorcycles. Such a motorcycle must be registered with the DMV, and its rider must have a motorcycle license, according to the California Department of Justice.
During the city’s crackdown, 29 people were referred to a Huntington Beach Police Department e-bike rider education program, 55 warnings were issued, and one vehicle was impounded, according to the department.
“HBPD remains committed to keeping Huntington Beach safe through proactive enforcement, education, and community outreach related to e-bikes and other electric mobility devices,” the department said in a statement.
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