Man Honored for ‘Skinhead’ Rescue

A man was honored Wednesday for coming to the rescue of an Iranian couple who were attacked by a group of neo-Nazi “skinheads” who mistakenly believed that their victims were Jewish.

Leonard Washington, 34, of Pomona, was presented with a distinguished service award by the Simon Wiesenthal Center in West Los Angeles.

Washington intervened in the May 28 attack on the Iranian couple, who had their baby with them in a shopping center parking lot in La Verne.

The reputed neo-Nazi skinheads, three men and a woman, face charges of assault and for allegedly violating the victims’ civil rights.

“A citizen stepped forward in a situation where there was clearly an attack on a couple and their infant child that was motivated by racial hatred,” the Wiesenthal center’s Rabbi Abraham Cooper said of Washington.

Of the honor, Washington, a school security officer, said, “It’s kind of a strange feeling for me. I really didn’t expect this much to be made of it.”