Beating, Robbery Of Man Who's Deaf Outside Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf Is Caught On Video

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) — Authorities say they are looking for two men in connection with the beating and robbery of a customer who is deaf outside of a Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf in Riverside.

Video posted on the Facebook page of the Riverside Police Department shows two young men casing out in front of the coffee shop at the Main Street Mall near the Mission Inn around 1 a.m. May 19.

Moments later from another angle, the video shows the men approach the victim who police say is deaf and was seated at a table outside the coffee shop.

The victim is seen in the footage being hit and punched repeatedly as he tries to hold on to his MacBook.

He eventually falls to the ground, at which point the suspects allegedly grab his computer and run off.

"Brutal. You know, they're just brutes. That's not even being like a human being at all," said Linda Pollard, a Riverside resident.

Pollard is a retired teacher for the deaf and frequents the Coffee Bean. She says it's horrible for two people to attack a vulnerable person.

"Many deaf individuals do not wear amplification. They choose not to do that so I don't know. But he probably didn't have any warning," she said.

Police are asking for the public's help identifying the two suspects seen in the clip, along with a third suspect who was spotted with them.

"Cowards. They need to go get a job," Ryan Barker, another Riverside resident, said.

An employee at the coffee shop told KCAL9's Rachel Kim the victim is a regular customer at the coffee bean and uses the Wi-Fi to Skype to communicate with his girlfriend using sign language.