Family of Palmdale teen demands justice after boy was attacked at concert

PALMDALE, Calif. (KABC) -- The family of a 17-year-old boy in Palmdale is calling for justice after the teen was attacked at a concert last month.

The incident happened on Saturday, May 24, and was captured on video.

In the footage, you can see a group of at least four people surrounding Elijah Green, kicking and punching him as he was curled up in a ball on the ground.

Some of the attackers are heard boasting about it in the video.

Green, a high school senior, said the attackers screamed racial slurs during the beating. He told Eyewitness News that the violence unfolded at an open field rock concert in Palmdale.

The family held a news conference about the attack Monday morning.

"The moment I turn around, someone comes from behind and punched me in the back of my head, and I just started getting jumped," Green told reporters. "No one came to help me."

Green said some of the people who beat him were the same people he saw the night before at a party. On that night, he said he lost his footing and accidentally bumped into a young lady who accused him of groping her. He added that he apologized to her, but she remained upset.

He hoped to see her at the concert Saturday night to clear the air, but she was not there. Instead, he says some of the same men who he saw at the party - for no apparent reason - jumped him at the concert.

"There was no confrontation leading up to it," he said.

The second he was attacked, he said he was shocked and terrified as he crashed to the ground under a barrage of punches and kicks.

His family has filed a criminal report, and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department is investigating the attack.

Green's mother says she arrived home and saw her her son bloody, badly beaten and bruised.

"His ear was swollen, his finger was dislocated from trying to protect himself," she said. "It just makes me cry because this is my child."

Green's family is calling on Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman to file hate crime charges.

"Hate has no place in our community," read a statement from the DA's office. "These crimes, if proven true, attack our sense of safety, dignity, and community. While a case has not yet been presented to our office for filing consideration, we will pursue the maximum, appropriate penalties for any hate crime that has been filed,which we can prove beyond a reasonable doubt."