A woman has been arrested in the brutal beating of a 92-year-old Mexican man, during which the alleged assailant beat the man with a brick, and screamed “Go back!”
As KABC-TV (Los Angeles) reports, 30-year-old Laquisha Jones of L.A. has been arrested in relation to the July 4 incident.
On July 4, as KNBC-TV reported at the time, 92-year-old Rodolfo Rodriguez was walking through his L.A. neighborhood, as he did every day. Usually, he walked with his wife, but on that particular day he was alone. What happened next is unclear; according to some reports, he accidentally bumped into a woman walking with her toddler, while according to others, he apparently merely looked at her the wrong way. Regardless, that apparently set the woman off: she was captured on video beating the elderly man with a concrete block, yelling at him to “Go back!” presumably to Mexico. Rodolfo is a legal U.S. resident.
Where or how she got the concrete block, or why she was carrying it with her, remains unclear.
Meanwhile, as the elderly man was on the ground, several men began kicking him. The vicious attack stopped when the assailants realized they were being video recorded.
You can see some portions of the aftermath of the attack in the video below, but be warned: this video contains content that may be disturbing to some viewers.
https://youtu.be/nmiemPHS_ss
The attack left Rodriguez, who according to some reports was visiting from Mexico, with two broken ribs, a broken cheekbone, and bruises and cuts. He has since been treated from his injuries and has been discharged from the hospital. His family says he is recovering at home.
Rodriguez’s grandson Erik Mendoza couldn’t understand why someone would be so violent towards an elderly man.
“Who would do this to anybody? A 92-year-old senior citizen, what can he do to anybody? There’s no harm that he meant.”
On Wednesday, police were able to identify Jones and take her into custody. She is currently being held on $200,000 bond and has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon. At this time, authorities are not calling the assault a hate crime. Meanwhile, police are refusing to say if they are seeking any of the other individuals allegedly involved in the attack.
As for Rodriguez, his family has set up a GoFundMe account to raise money for his medical bills and his recovery. As of this writing, the account has raised over a quarter of a million dollars, far more than its initial goal of $15,000.
