Hells Angels bikers chase and beat 3 Black men in hate crime, California officials say
A grand jury indicted 17 Hells Angels and associates in a hate crime beating, California authorities reported.
In June, the gang chased and beat three Black men — ages 19, 20 and 21 — in the Ocean Beach neighborhood of San Diego after one possibly spoke to a biker’s girlfriend, the San Diego County District Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
The Hells Angels used racial epithets and told the men they “didn’t belong” there, prosecutors said.
One man escaped, but the gang punched and kicked another until he fell unconscious from a sucker punch to the head, prosecutors said.
Bikers beat the third man until he was helpless, then one Hells Angel stabbed him in the sternum with a pocket knife, authorities said.
District Attorney Summer Stephan called it a “hateful, vicious, and unprovoked attack” in the release.
After an investigation, police arrested the 17 Hells Angels and associates Sept. 21, prosecutors said. Authorities said they also found 42 illegal firearms and illegal drugs.
Fourteen are accused of assault likely to cause great bodily injury, with 11 also facing hate crime charges. Three face charges of helping one of the attackers flee.
Some face up to life in prison if convicted, prosecutors said.
The Hells Angels are “an international outlaw motorcycle gang with chapters across California and an active chapter in San Diego County,” officials said.
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