An Israeli-American man was mowed down by an enraged Palestinian man outside a California in a terrifying act of hate, police said.
Roy Gross, 28, was out partying with three friends in Laguna Beach when they got into a shouting match with two men who identified themselves as being Palestinian-Iranian, according to Hebrew News, citing the police report.
The enraged men hurled slurs against Israel and blocked Gross and his friends from getting into a taxi before one of the assailants jumped in his car and tried to run them down, witnesses said.
Gross was severely injured — suffering a compound fracture on his leg.
“This is the first time I have encountered such violence,” Gross, who moved to the US in 2014 after serving in the IDF, told Hebrew News from his hospital bed.
“We tried to calm the conflict and avoid the confrontation, but the suspect acted maliciously and with intent to harm,” he added.
Cops arrested the assailant and are investigating the incident as a hate crime.
Gross, who works as an entrepreneur and music producer, seemed to take the harrowing ordeal with good spirits, flashing a “hang loose” sign as EMTs loaded him into an ambulance, a photo from the scene shows.
He has already had one surgery on the broken leg, and will require at least one more, Hebrew News reported.
