Palmdale man caught on camera fighting teen in Valencia arrested
SANTA CLARITA, Calif. - A Palmdale man has been arrested in connection with a viral video that shows a fight between himself and a 13-year-old boy in Valencia, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department's Santa Clarita Valley Station.
The suspect, 46-year-old Regan Coultas, was arrested for felony child abuse a week after the incident last Tuesday outside the Havana Savannah coffee shop on Copper Hill Drive.
He was booked into the Santa Clarita Sheriff’s Station and remains in custody, officials said.
In the viral video, Coultas is seen wearing a green shirt and pushes the teen onto the ground as the teen struggles to try to break free. At one point, the teen appears to have his head directly on the pavement with the rest of his body in the air as he scuffles with the man.
"Someone call 911!" a teen can be heard screaming in the background.
The boy who took the video says the incident started at the Circle K convenience store nearby. The store is frequented by Rio Norte Junior High School students after school. Witnesses said that students were crowding to get into the store while the man in the video was trying to leave. Another cell phone video from the scene captured someone threatening to beat up students trying to enter the store.
Several other students told FOX 11's Susan Hirasuna that the boy seen in the video was talking back to the man and dared him to follow through on his threats.
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"You're choking a kid!" one teen yelled as the two wrestled on the ground.
At one point, the man and the teen tumble on the ground as a bystander tries to pull the pair apart, prompting others to come forward to help.
Ricky Harmison eventually pulled the man from the teenager. He said the man "seemed slightly inebriated. He had the audacity to be mad that he was being kicked while he was on the ground while fighting a child, which is dumb," Harmison said.