-- From Times staff reporter Christine Clarridge:

A man who was roughed up by a group of young men in Solstice Park on Saturday didn't back down despite being outnumbered, according to a police report.

The 55-year-old man was walking with his wife and their dogs in Solstice Park at 7400 Fauntleroy Way Southwest around 4 p.m. when he saw six young men sitting on some logs and smoking pot. The man confronted the group and scolded them for smoking pot and told them to leave the park.

The younger men -- police listed their ages as between 18 and 21 -- refused and insulted the man's wife.

One of the younger men danced around the older man and punched him a few times in the chest. The older man warned the man three times to stop and then took the younger man down to the ground, pinning him down by his throat and chest. Two of the younger man's friends then jumped in and began striking the older man with expanding batons, according to the police report.

The older man's wife then got in between her husband and the younger men. The man who had been pinned to the ground then got up and punched the older guy.

The older man told the younger man that he "hit like a girl" and then challenged the others to hit him again, but they did not. Three of the young men then climbed into a BMW and took off. The others also fled.