Man arrested for allegedly attacking 12-year-old Jewish boy in Fairfax area

LOS ANGELES - A man is in custody for allegedly attacking a 12-year-old Jewish boy in the Fairfax area.

Officers were sent to Melrose and Formosa avenues around 5:45 p.m. Tuesday and arrested Daniel Rankin, 50, on suspicion of battery, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.

An ambulance was sent to the scene, but the boy was not taken to a hospital, the LAPD reported.

Police released no other details of their investigation, but the Jewish Journal reported the victim was a Jewish child and cited tweets by lawyer and Los Angeles City Council candidate Sam Yebri, as well as Eve Barlow, who describes herself on her Twitter page as a Scottish-born journalist.

"Today, on Melrose Ave (a few blocks from my own LA City Council campaign event tonight), an Orthodox Jewish child was punched in the face -- in the streets of Los Angeles -- in broad daylight,'' Yebri wrote. "Another unhinged person then walked by, defended the attacker, and threatened to `kill the kid's entire family.' This is not OK, cannot become the new normal in our city, and must end now.''

According to Yebri's post, a citizen's arrest was made, then the LAPD was called.

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The child was targeted "while he was playing on scooters with his friends,'' according to Barlow, who posted video of the arrest and wrote: "This is not normal. The regularity of these types of attacks is not normal. In broad daylight.''

She says a friend of hers confronted the man before he was arrested, however, another man came to Rankin's defense and said he wanted to "kill the boy's entire Jewish family."

According to jail records, no bail has been set for Rankin.