Man arrested in attack on teen girl beaten with skateboard in Venice

An 18-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a brutal attack last week in Venice in which a teenage girl was beaten with a skateboard, police said.

Charles Rayner was arrested Saturday on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and was released the next day on bail, said Los Angeles police Officer Rosario Herrera.

Rayner is one of three men believed to be involved in the attack on the teenager and three other people, said Lt. Lydia Leos of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Pacific Station. Police have identified the other two men and are looking for them, she said. Authorities initially identified the teenager as a woman.

Cellphone video of the attack Thursday night shows a man kicking someone on the ground while another man strikes a teenage girl in the head with a skateboard. In the video, shot by a witness, a man is heard saying, “Don’t get involved.”

A man pulls the girl to her feet while another man kicks her as onlookers stand nearby. A woman in the background can be heard screaming, “Stop!”

The girl, identified as Brooklyn Smith, 16, told KTLA-TV Channel 5 that she was treated after the incident for a 4-inch gash on her head.

The victims, from the Antelope Valley, and the suspects had gotten into an argument sometime before the attack and then ran into each other Thursday night at Venice Skate Park, Leos said. The assault began in the park and continued near Speedway and Windward Avenue, she said.

Police are looking into whether the incident was gang-related.

For breaking news in California, follow @VeronicaRochaLA.