Via NBC News:
An off-duty officer was attacked and choked unconscious by several teenagers after he tried to help a woman the group was assaulting, authorities said.
The incident happened Friday outside the Bay Street Mall in Emeryville, about 4 miles northwest of Oakland.
Emeryville police said a woman returned to the mall and confronted a group of teenagers she believed knew the person who had allegedly stolen her cellphone earlier in the day.
The woman asked the teens to give back her phone and the group “became aggressive with the victim and began to assault her,” police said in a news release.
In a surveillance video of the incident, the woman approaches the group of at least five teens and grabs one wearing a white hoodie by the arm. He shoves the woman as several other teens gather around her. The teen in the white hoodie shoves the woman again before someone runs over to intervene.