Fresno FAX bus stop attack victim suffers broken bones

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- The hunt is on for the man who assaulted a 63-year-old man on a busy Fresno street. The victim's family talked exclusively with Action News about the injuries he suffered while defending a teenage boy.

The victim is John Medina. He is recovering from a concussion and several other injuries after being attacked at the FAX bus stop outside Manchester Mall last week.

His family is outraged over the incident. Now police say they're closing in on the suspect in the disturbing viral video.

It was just a matter of seconds after John Medina tried to stop an assault on a teenage boy that he was also attacked.

The video was posted to Facebook, eventually finding its into ABC30 Facebook inbox and finally to police.

Speaking only on Action News the victim's son says John had heart surgery a month ago. Now he has a list of other injuries to deal with. "He has two broken vertebras, and something's wrong with... his collar bone is sticking up right here," Angel Medina, the victim's son, said.

Fresno police say a 15-year-old boy was being taunted by the man in the black tank-top seen in the video. Medina says his father stood up to tell the man to leave the boy alone.

"He was just standing up for him, and it just turned around for the worst," Medina said. "I haven't seen it. I just didn't want to because the reaction of mine would probably be something different. I'll just let the cops handle it."

Now that police have the video they say detectives are making quick work by following tips from the public to identify and hopefully track down the suspect soon.

Lt. Joe Gomez says the victim was knocked out briefly after slamming his head into his walker and then the ground.

"Easily could have happened that he could have been killed, too," Gomez said. "So we need to get this guy off the street."

Four police cadets are assigned to patrol the fax bus station at Manchester Mall, but they weren't there at the time of the assault because they split their patrols between there and downtown Fresno's FAX bus terminal.

Police say they're close to arresting the man in the video.

"I'm sure with everybody's response he's going to get caught sooner or later, you can't hide too long," Medina said.

Because the victim was knocked out briefly after hitting his head police say the suspect is facing felony assault charges when he's caught.