Hermosa Beach Mayor attacked after challenging litterer
by Daniel Blackburn
Hermosa Beach Mayor Justin Massey was physically attacked Sunday evening by a man Massey chastised for littering.
In an email to Easy Reader, Massey said he was walking with his family near Cypress Avenue and 8th Street around 7:30 p.m. when “I saw trash being thrown onto 8th Street from a parked vehicle.”
Massey asked the occupants “not to throw trash onto the street.”
At that point, two men jumped from the vehicle “and verbally threatened me,” Massey said. One of the men then assaulted him, inflicting injuries, which the mayor did not describe. A resident who saw Massey subsequent to the assault said the mayor appeared to have been hit near an eye.
The Hermosa Beach Police Department, according to Massey, “has identified the suspect and is preparing criminal charges to present to the Los Angeles County District Attorney.”
Massey said he wanted to “thank everyone who helped during the incident and who has reached out with good wishes. I’m recovering well.”
Citing a police investigation into “a pending criminal matter,” Massey said he would not comment further.
Police officials did not return requests for more information about the incident. ER