Police investigating brutal beating

A beating Tuesday in Laguna Beach left a homeless man with facial

lacerations, a collapsed lung and broken ribs.

A local photographer walking at 7 a.m. down to Table Rock Beach

discovered the man, who claimed he had been beaten earlier that

morning.

Despite severe facial injury, Larry Whitmarsh, 53, was able to

tell police he had been sleeping in his sleeping bag when three men

confronted him.

“He told them to go away, and two hours later they came back as an

onslaught,” Sgt. Jason Kravetz said.

Whitmarsh managed to stand up in defense, but his assailants used

their fists, beer bottles and a stick to get him to the ground.

Kravetz said they kicked him and then fled with some of his

belongings. Whitmarsh suffered a collapsed right lung, broken ribs, a

broken nose and a concussion.

Mercy Air transported the him to Mission Hospital’s intensive care

unit.

Debi Cortez, executive director of the Laguna Relief and Resource

Center, remembered Whitmarsh from when he walked in seeking help for

a job last month.

“He’s fairly new to Laguna,” she said.

These types of assaults typically involve out-of-town visitors and

alcohol, Cortez said.

She recalled an incident that occurred last summer in which an

intoxicated homeless man got into a tussle with three men in a bar.

He went to the hospital with broken teeth and a broken back.

“It was his bottom,” she said. “We finally got him a bus pass and

sent him home to his family back East.”

But after four years of working with Laguna’s homeless, Cortez

also knows that they can sometimes use violence as a way to establish

“a pecking order” among themselves.

“Everyone knows each other,” she said. “What they have to learn is

how to get along with each other, the police and people like me who

can provide help.”

Police are looking for three white males between the ages of 18

and 20. Whitmarsh described the first suspect as approximately 6 feet

tall, slender, with wavy or curly hair and wearing a brown coat. The

second suspect was described as approximately 5-foot-8, with very

short hair and “pudgy.” Kravetz would not release the description of

the third suspect because they are actively following up on leads.

The assault on Whitmarsh is under investigation by police, who ask

that anyone with information call the tip line at (949) 497-7621.

-- Mary A. Castillo