A Long Beach man was charged today with attacking a 12-year-old boy on a city bus.
David Manuel Santana Garcia, 36, pleaded not guilty to a felony count of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death.
The boy reported that he was physically assaulted by a man while riding a city bus about 1:50 p.m. last Sunday near Atlantic Avenue and Carson Street.
“At this time, the assault appears to have been unprovoked,” according to a Long Beach police statement. “The victim sustained non-life-threatening injuries to the upper body.”
The boy’s father, Billy Brown, said his son was recovering, but won’t be getting back on the bus anytime soon.
“This guy just started hitting my son in the head like he was on UFC or something,” Brown told ABC7.
Police circulated surveillance images of the suspect, and Garcia was arrested about 1:15 p.m. Wednesday near Atlantic Avenue and San Antonio Drive, police said.
He has remained jailed since then in lieu of $100,000 bail, and is due back in a Long Beach courtroom on Sept. 21.