Police on Wednesday arrested a man suspected of assaulting a 12-year-old boy on a bus in Long Beach over the weekend in what police called an unprovoked attack, authorities said.
After receiving tips from residents about the suspect’s whereabouts on Wednesday, officers arrested the suspect around 1:12 p.m. in the area of Atlantic Avenue and San Antonio Drive.
He was booked on suspicion of one count of child cruelty, one count of assault with a deadly weapon, one count of unruly behavior on public transportation, and one count of battery on public transportation.
The boy was riding a public transit bus on Sunday afternoon when, at 1:48 p.m., a man started to strike the boy, Long Beach police spokesman Brandon Fahey said.
The 12-year-old was on his way to visit his grandmother, according to a KABC-TV report.
“This guy just started hitting my son in the head like he was on UFC or something,” the boy’s father, Billy Brown, told the station. He was not on the bus with his son.
The man attacked the boy and exited in the area of Carson Street and Atlantic Avenue, police said.
The bus driver reported the assault to authorities, describing the incident as a fight between two males, said Mike Gold, a Long Beach Transit spokesman.
The dispatcher asked the driver if the victim needed assistance, to which the boy said no, Gold said. Then the bus continued on.
Early the next morning, around 2 a.m., the boy and his father went to the police station to file a report of the assault, Fahey said. Fire paramedics treated the boy’s injuries at the station.
“At this time, the assault appears to be have been unprovoked,” Fahey said.
Using security camera footage from the bus, police described the assailant as in his 30s, 5-feet-10 and heavyset.
Within hours of releasing information about the suspect, officers arrested a man they say is suspected in the attack. Authorities identified him as David Manuel Santana Garcia, 36, of Long Beach. He was held on $100,000 bail.
Investigators are still trying to understand what motivated the attack.
Both the transit company and police declined to release footage of the assault.
