Former child actor Michael Vitar, who starred in “The Sandlot,” is being sued over a Halloween 2015 attack on a man who was handing out candy to children in his grandmother’s neighborhood.
In the suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Thursday, Samuel Chang alleges that he was chased down, tackled and choked by Vitar and others. When police arrived, the defendants lied to them, telling the police that Chang was on PCP and had a weapon on him, the lawsuit says.
“After handing out candy at his grandma’s house, Plaintiff decided to walk around the neighborhood and continue to hand out candy to kids trick or treating, as well as to take pictures of some of the Halloween decorations that had been put up on houses nearby,” the suit reads.
Vitar and the others emerged from a party, appearing intoxicated and acting “very aggressively” as they told him they “didn’t want [Chang] handing out candy in their neighborhood, and that he needed to leave,” the lawsuit states.
According to the suit, Chang was choked so forcefully that it “caused him to go into cardiac arrest,” and the attack resulted in “a traumatic brain injury and kidney failure,” resulting in Chang’s hospitalization for more than two weeks.
After initially pleading not guilty to assault, pleaded no contest to misdemeanor battery, avoiding a possible sentence of up to four years in a state prison.
Vitar, who played “Benny the Jet” Rodriguez in the 1993 film, was sentenced to 90 days of community service and ordered to attend weekly anger management classes for a year.
The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office had claimed that Vitar, who joined the Los Angeles County Fire Department after his acting career, was attending a party hosted by another off-duty firefighter when they and a neighbor became upset with a 22-year-old man who was visiting his grandmother and handing out candy to children while he walked down the street.
The three men allegedly chased down the other man and jumped him, forcing him to the ground before the other firefighter choked him.
Alleging assault, battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, false imprisonment and negligence, the suit, which names four other men as well as other, unnamed defendants, seeks unspecified damages.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.