A South L.A. teenager is in custody for allegedly ripping a gold chain off the neck of a 5-year-old boy, authorities said today.
German Palma, 18, was arrested on suspicion of felony robbery and is being held at the Men’s Central Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
Officers arrested Palma at his home Tuesday after a tipster identified him from surveillance videos that captured the Jan. 4 crime on the 5300 block of South Main Street, police said.
In the video, the child is seen standing on a sidewalk outside a restaurant, where he and his family had just eaten, when a man rides by on a blue mountain bike. The man yanks the gold chain off the child’s neck with enough force to lift the boy off his feet and drag him along the sidewalk until the chain breaks and the man flees.
Palma is scheduled to appear in court Feb. 11.
— Seema Mehta