LOS ANGELES – A suspect is in custody after video shows him shoving a man into oncoming traffic in Downtown Los Angeles, leading to the victim suffering critical injuries, according to KTLA.
The video, which L.A. police said was captured around 10:45 a.m. on the 300 block of West Sixth Street, shows the victim walking along the sidewalk when a man sitting on a nearby bench jumps from his seat and hurls him into oncoming traffic, apparently unprovoked.
It occurred at the exact moment a box truck was driving by, and the victim was lodged underneath its front left tire for at least 10 seconds before the truck's driver realized what happened and backed up.
The suspect, meanwhile, is seen picking something up off the ground and walking away. It appeared the item may have flown off the victim's body as he fell.
The footage was captured on security cameras in front of Sultan Chicken, a Mediterranean restaurant on the block.
The victim was taken to the hospital with a collapsed lung and broken bones, LAPD Officer Tony Im said. Officer Mike Lopez said the man remained in critical condition Wednesday night but is expected to survive.
The victim has not been identified, but Im described him as an Armenian man believed to be in his 60s.
A manhunt was underway for several hours following the incident, until L.A. firefighters who had seen the footage in news reports spotted a man in the same "distinctive" lime-green hoodie that the suspect wears in the video, according to Lopez.
Officers responded to the area, near Third and Hill streets, and arrested the man at about 6:45 p.m. after determining he was the suspect.
Lopez said he is a homeless man who lives in the area, but did not provide his name.
The man was being questioned at an LAPD station downtown and would later be booked on suspicion of attempted murder, police said.