Hermosa Beach Police Beat
A booking photo of David Delgado. Photo courtesy Hermosa Beach Police Department
Police nab hat attack suspect
Hermosa Beach police have arrested a Los Angeles man on suspicion of battery and robbery in connection with what they say was an attack on a man wearing a hat reading “Make America Great Again” in Russian.
The attack occurred about 6:30 p.m. on Sept. 2 in the bathroom of a downtown Hermosa restaurant, according to a statement from HBPD Sgt. Robert Higgins. The victim was wearing a red hat with white writing, in the style of hats commonly worn by supporters of President Donald Trump. However, unlike a traditional “MAGA hat,” the victim’s bore Cyrillic writing, police said.
The suspect, David Delgado, 32, allegedly asked the victim, a man, about the meaning of the hat. Delgado then began punching the victim in the face, continuing to punch him after he fell to the ground, Higgins said. The suspect allegedly took the hat and fled the scene.
Relying in part on surveillance footage, police identified the suspect as Delgado and arrested him Tuesday at his residence in Winnetka, a neighborhood in Los Angeles’ San Fernando Valley, Higgins said. Delgado is currently being held at the Hermosa Beach Jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.
The political motivations of the attack, if any, are ambiguous. Trump supporters have often reported being harassed for wearing “MAGA hats” in public. But descriptions of the hat worn by the victim resemble those sold online as an “Anti-Trump #Illegitimate President Cap,” intended to mock Trump over his alleged ties to Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.