Homeless man runs over man in Torrance; Victim had history of helping suspect driver
LOS ANGELES COUNTY, Calif. - [WARNING: THE SURVEILLANCE IMAGE OF THE INCIDENT IS EXTREMELY GRAPHIC]
A Palos Verdes man is lucky to be alive after he was run over by a homeless man he knew.
Ken Teshima, 66, spent a night in the ICU for cracked and bleeding skull from the horrific incident that took place in Torrance.
"I almost got killed," Teshima said. "My head's cracked and it's bleeding – if he rolled me over, I'd be dead."
Long before the crash, the homeless man had slept in his car in the parking lot of the office Teshima worked at. Teshima, who is the complex's president, allowed the homeless man to park in the parking lot as long as he didn't cause too much trouble.
However, the homeless man wore out other business owners' welcome.
"He was pooping on the ground and making trouble," Teshima explained.
When it was time for Teshima to kick the homeless man out of the property, the suspect tried to fight the 66-year-old man.
"I told him, ‘Look, I don’t want to fight you,'" Teshima recalled. "I'm a martial artist. If I fight with you, I'm going to hurt you."
That was when the homeless man got into his Nissan Altima and drove toward Teshima's direction, forcing the victim to slam his head to the ground.
Teshima said after he was run over, the suspect stole his cell phone before taking off for good.
The suspect, identified as Alphonso King, was arrested by the Torrance Police Department on Tuesday, August 15 and charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, in addition to felony charges of elder abuse and robbery. He is being held on $1 million bail and is set to appear in court on Thursday, August 17.