Saturday, July 21, 2012

Asian who beat up a homeless man with a tire iron will face trial

A co-founder of the popular frozen yogurt chain Pinkberry has been ordered to stand trial on charges that he beat a homeless man with a tire iron in California. A judge denied a motion to dismiss the assault with a deadly weapon case against Young Lee. Lee is free on bail and is no longer affiliated with Pinkberry. Donald Bolding testified that he was begging from drivers on a freeway off-ramp in Hollywood when his shirt rode up and revealed a sexually explicit tattoo. He says that a man he identified as Lee got out of a car, demanded that he apologize to his wife, then attacked him. Bolding was struck twice in the head and suffered a broken arm before witnesses stopped the attack. The homeless man was beaten so brutally he had to be hospitalized. Lee was born in Korea and is a former kick-boxer. Lee - who co-founded the healthy, low-calorie dessert chain - was arrested after a witness called police and gave the license plate number of the Range Rover involved, which was rented in Lee's name. Investigators later recovered the tire iron through the rental car agency. Lee has also been accused of owning illegal guns, according to police. Police searched Lee's Los Angeles home and fleet of luxury cars after his arrest and found two handguns, a Colt .45 and a Para Ordnance Brand .45. A police search warrant affidavit states that, due to a 2001 conviction for drugs possession, Lee is not allowed to own, buy, receive, possess, or have custody or control of any firearms. He also has a conviction for possession of a firearm and could now face this same charge again.

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