Thug Watch

In lovely Orange County

An 18-year-old Lebanese-American teenager filed a civil rights lawsuit Wednesday against a group of Orange County teens who allegedly assaulted him with bats and golf clubs while shouting racial slurs.

Rashid Alam and his lawyers filed the lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court. The suit seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages, as well as legal fees from four named defendants and 29 unnamed defendants and their parents.

"I am a human being. Just because I am Arabian or Muslim does not mean that I am bad or evil," Alam said

Alam suffered multiple head injuries, a broken jaw and stab wounds as a result of the Feb. 22 attack. Metal plates were inserted in his face during reconstructive surgery and his jaw until last week was wired shut.