A man required hospitalization Monday morning for injuries suffered when he and a friend got into fights with four men after a night of drinking at an Anaheim bar, police said.
Police were called to La Palma Avenue and Brookhurst Street around 1:30 a.m. by a witness who saw one victim lying on the side of the street, said Anaheim police Lt. Bob Dunn.
“The witness gave a vehicle description,” Dunn said, adding that Officers en route to the scene spotted the car and pulled it over.
The man inside turned out to be the victim’s friend, who had also been fighting and who told police he left the injured man after he couldn’t get him in his car, Dunn said.
The friend told police what led to the beatings, the lieutenant said.
“They had been drinking at a bar at Brookhurst and Crescent where they got into a fight with four guys. They left and when they got to Brookhurst and La Palma they got into another fight,” he said.
The friend had minor injuries and tried unsuccessfully to get his more seriously injured friend into his car before leaving the scene, Dunn said. The four men with whom they were fighting also left.
The seriously injured man was transported to a hospital, where “he is expected to survive,” Dunn said.
A man who identified himself only as Ruben told City News Service he saw four men “beating up” the seriously injured man while driving in his truck.
“I looked in the mirror in my truck and saw them hitting and kicking him. He was down on the ground,” the witness said.
“I seen the car take off and I got a license plate number,” Ruben said. It was the car driven by the friend who police pulled over a short time later. Ruben had called for help at a gas station, he said.
“I got involved because you never know it might be someone’s family,” Ruben said.
Police want to talk to the other four men involved in the fight to see if they would even face charges because of the apparent mutual combat, Dunn said.
“At this point we’d be investigating an assault and battery,” he said.
—City News Service