Update on Hells Angels Accused of Racist Assaults on 3 Black Men in Ocean Beach in 2023
by SOURCE OB Rag Ocean Beach California on MAY 24, 2024 ·
Update on Hells Angels Accused of Racist Assaults on 3 Black Men in Ocean Beach in 2023
By Paul Krueger
Eight Hells Angels accused of various roles in a racist attack on three African-American men last year in Ocean Beach have pleaded guilty and now face punishments ranging from 60 days in local custody to nine years in state prison.
The three victims of that brutal June 6, 2023 attack were enjoying a night out on Newport Avenue. Prosecutors say one of the men apparently spoke to a biker’s girlfriend, which might have prompted the attack. The suspects allegedly called the victims a racial epithet and told them “they didn’t belong in the neighborhood.”
According to prosecutors, one of the victims ran and escaped injury.
But members of the biker gang cornered the second victim and punched and kicked him repeatedly. One of the gang members then sucker-punched that second, knocking him out. District Attorney Summer Stephan said the third victim was also beaten and then viciously stabbed in the chest by long-time Hells Angel Troy Scholder.
The second and third victims survived those attacks.
Last September, a county grand jury indicted 14 Hells Angels for assault likely to cause great bodily injury with an additional gang enhancement charge.
Eleven of those 14 defendants were also charged with a hate crime, and three defendants were accused of helping the stabber, Troy Scholder, evade arrest by assisting him when he fled the crime scene and sought refuge at the Hells Angels’ Clubhouse in El Cajon.
In the eight months since those indictments, eight defendants have pleaded guilty to felony assault and other serious crimes.
William McDonnal received the harshest sentence to date: nine years in state prison, following his admission of guilt on two counts of assault likely to cause great bodily injury with gang and hate crime enhancements.
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