Police: Sunday robbery could be hate crime

Costa Mesa police are investigating whether a pedestrian robbery Sunday night is a hate crime, officials said Monday.

About 8:30 p.m. Sunday, a man was walking down an alley in the 1900 block of Sterling Avenue when two men walking the opposite way attacked him, kicking and punching him to the ground, stealing his wallet and phone before hopping a fence and escaping, said Sgt. Greg Scott.

Police described the suspects as two white men in their 20s. Scott said the attackers yelled racial epithets at the man, a 32-year-old Latino, before attacking him and running off. The man went to Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach with non-life threatening injuries, Scott said.

In a separate incident, police said a homeless man was beaten and robbed outside a Jack in the Box on Harbor Boulevard just after midnight Sunday. A homeless man was sitting outside the fast-food restaurant when three men jumped him, kicking and punching him, and stealing his phone and wallet, Scott said.

Police said the robberies do not appear to be related.

— Joseph Serna