A San Bernardino man who was kicked in the back of the head while sitting in a hot tub says the attack was completely unprovoked, and two 13-year-old boys were later arrested after their own parents recognized them in surveillance footage and turned them in to police.
Commentary YouTuber Anton Daniels reacted to reports from KTLA 5 and CBS Los Angeles about the attack on 48-year-old Greg Medina, who suffered a concussion after one of the boys walked up behind him and kicked him while another took his phone.
Daniels said the case was especially disturbing because Medina works feeding unhoused people and was simply relaxing at his apartment complex when the assault happened.
Medina Says He Never Saw The Kick Coming
KTLA 5 reporter Shelby Nelson said Medina was sitting in the jacuzzi at the Creekside Village Apartments in San Bernardino when two young people approached him.
Surveillance footage showed one of them appearing to tie a shoe before walking toward Medina, then suddenly kicking him hard in the back of the head.
The second person reached down and took Medina’s phone, which had been sitting on the concrete nearby.
Medina told Nelson that he had earbuds in and was listening to a class, something he normally did not do while in the hot tub.
“I felt a sharp kick behind my head,” he said.
He had noticed the youths in the distance but did not pay much attention to them because he had no reason to think they were a threat.
Medina later said he could easily have lost consciousness, slipped under the water and drowned.
That possibility is what makes the attack more serious than some reckless prank. A hard blow to the head next to water can have consequences far beyond what the attacker may have intended.
His Stolen Phone Led Police Toward A Nearby Complex
After the assault, Medina tracked his phone to a neighboring apartment complex.
He contacted police, but the signal only narrowed the location to a complex with dozens of units, making it impossible to determine exactly where the phone had gone.
Nelson reported that Medina works as a chef for Lutheran Social Services, where he prepares meals for unhoused people.
He said he serves roughly 70 to 75 men during an average morning and starts work around 5 a.m.
Medina went to an emergency room after the attack and learned that he had suffered a concussion.
Because he is the sole parent supporting his 12-year-old daughter, he said he could afford to take only one day off work even though he still did not feel well.
Daniels reacted angrily to that part of the story, saying it was hard to understand how someone could randomly attack a man who was simply sitting in his own apartment complex and then leave him dealing with medical problems and missed income.
Daniels Says The Attack Could Have Been Deadly
Daniels said the suspects could easily have killed Medina without meaning to.
If Medina had been knocked unconscious and drowned, Daniels argued, what appeared to be a reckless attack would suddenly have become a homicide case.
He also criticized the broader behavior, saying there was no justification for targeting someone who had done nothing to provoke them.
“Nobody deserves to be assaulted, let alone assaulted while they’re in the hot tub,” Daniels said.
He also questioned how many similar incidents happen without ever becoming major news stories because victims do not have clear video or public attention.
Daniels went further and criticized the way some young people are being raised, although he acknowledged later that the parents in this case did take responsibility once they recognized their children.
That distinction matters.
Whatever happened before the attack, the decision by the parents to bring the boys to police rather than hide what they had done became one of the most significant parts of the case.
Parents Recognized Their Sons And Turned Them In
A later CBS Los Angeles report by Joy Benedict revealed that both suspects were 13 years old.
According to Benedict, the boys’ parents recognized them from the security footage after the story began circulating publicly.
The parents confronted their children and then took them to the police station to turn them in.
Medina asked to meet them there.
He said the boys apologized and told him they understood that what they had done was not funny.
Medina shook their hands, hugged them and thanked them for doing the right thing by coming forward.
Both boys were arrested for robbery, while the boy accused of delivering the kick was also arrested for felony battery.
Medina said he had “great respect” for the parents because he could only imagine how difficult it must have been to turn in their own children and leave them with police.
That part of the story offers a much different picture than the attack itself. The parents could not undo what happened, but they did make a choice that directly supported accountability.
Daniels Rejects The “Social Media Clicks” Explanation
CBS Los Angeles reported that the attack appeared to have been connected to making a TikTok, with Medina saying the boys told him they thought kicking him would be funny.
Daniels said he did not believe that explanation.
He argued that the robbery of Medina’s phone suggested the motive may have been more serious than simply trying to get social-media attention.
Daniels speculated that the “TikTok prank” explanation may have been an attempt to minimize the crime, although the reports did not establish that as fact.
That is an important distinction because the evidence shown in the news reports establishes the assault, the phone theft and the arrests, while the exact motivation remains based on what the boys reportedly said afterward.
Even so, the idea of attacking a stranger for entertainment is troubling enough on its own.
Medina Says Forgiveness Does Not Mean No Consequences
Despite suffering a concussion, losing work and having his phone stolen, Medina repeatedly said he did not hate the boys.
“I forgive them,” he told KTLA.
He also made clear that forgiveness did not mean they should avoid consequences.
Medina said they still needed to be held accountable for what they had done.
Later, he told CBS Los Angeles that as a father of a child around the same age, he wanted the boys to have enough support to make better decisions in the future.
Friends also started an online fundraiser to help Medina cover bills while he was unable to work because of the concussion.
He told the boys that there was a human being behind the action they had taken, and that missing work meant less money for his daughter and less food on the table.
Daniels strongly agreed with Medina’s approach to forgiveness, saying that forgiving someone does not mean pretending the harm never happened.
For Daniels, that was the most meaningful part of the story.
Medina had every reason to be furious, yet he chose to recognize the boys as young people who had made a serious and dangerous decision while still insisting that the justice system hold them responsible.
That combination of accountability and forgiveness gave the case an ending very different from the violence that started it.
A former park ranger and wildlife conservationist, Lisa’s passion for survival started with her deep connection to nature. Raised on a small farm in northern Wisconsin, she learned how to grow her own food, raise livestock, and live off the land. Lisa is our dedicated Second Amendment news writer and also focuses on homesteading, natural remedies, and survival strategies. Lisa aims to help others live more sustainably and prepare for the unexpected.
