VAN NUYS — A $15,000 reward was offered this week for information leading the perpetrators of a New Year’s Day road rage attack on a motorist in Van Nuys that was caught on video, showing the beating that left the man severely injured.
The man was stopped at a red light at the intersection of Victory Boulevard and Woodman Avenue around 9:30 p.m. Jan. 1 when the suspects pulled up behind him in a black Jeep, according to the Los Angeles Police Department. The man behind the wheel of the Jeep had been driving erratically, police said.
Both drivers pulled to the curb and the occupants exited their vehicles, at which point the Jeep’s driver punched the victim in the head, knocking him unconscious and causing him to fall to the ground, according to the LAPD. The suspects jumped back in the Jeep, which was last seen heading south on Woodman Avenue from Victory Boulevard, police said.
Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics took the victim to a hospital and said he has not regained consciousness. His name and age were withheld.
“My father is one of the most hard-working, most kind, and most generous man that I know,” Jennifer Gonzalez said at a news conference Thursday morning at the Van Nuys car dealership where her father worked. “To my dad, if he is listening to me — he is my best friend. You are the best dad that I could ever ask for.”
The suspect who was driving the Jeep and allegedly struck the victim was described as a 20- to 30-year-old man, about 5 feet 10 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds, with short black hair. He was wearing a black sweatshirt, white shirt and black pants.
The other two suspects were also described as 20- to 30-year-old men with black hair, one of them 6-foot-1 and 170 pounds and the other 5-foot-9 and 140 pounds.
The suspects’ black Jeep has tinted windows and California paper plates, according to police, whose posted video footage on the LAPD’s YouTube channel.
The reward was offered by Nissan/Infiniti of Van Nuys, where the man worked as a service adviser, according to ABC7.
Anyone with information about the case was asked to contact LAPD Van Nuys Area Detective Ryan Secor at 818-374-0062. During non-business hours or weekends, call 1-877-LAPD-24-7.