HUNTINGTON BEACH (CBSLA.com) — Authorities say a Good Samaritan who tried to intervene in a fight between two groups of teens in Huntington Beach Saturday evening, was nearly beaten to death by the same teens who attacked him with their skateboards.

Police say 40 teens attacked the 25-year-old man — about 7:50 p.m. — at Murdy park in Huntington Beach. The man is in extremely critical condition.

Officials said the man’s girlfriend saw the teens involved in an altercation.

After the girlfriend tried to intervene, the crowd turned on her. She got away but returned with her boyfriend. Police said the teens than turned on him.

The man tried to flee to a nearby laundromat where the attack continued, said police.

Huntington Beach Police said on their Facebook page that four juveniles were arrested for attempted murder. All four are currently on probation for other crimes and have been taken to Orange County Juvenile Hall, said authorities.

Police said more arrests could come soon.

The Good Samaritan was transported to UCI Medical Center where he underwent emergency surgery.

KCAL9’s Tom Wait spoke to witnesses who observed the brutal beating.

Sandy Nguyen, who works at the nail salon two doors down from Surf City Coin Laundry, said, “I was so scared. So I locked the door. They used their skateboards to beat the boy in the head.”

Witness Erik Yslas saw a group of kids run through the parking lot. “I saw four people running into the parking lot, didn’t know what was going on at first. I spin to my left and saw all the cops right there.”

Dave Sumner said, “It looked like every cop in Huntington Beach was here, seemed like. At 11:30 [p.m.] there were still a lot of cops all over the parking lot.”

The victim’s identity is being withheld while police continue the investigation, said the Huntington Beach authorities.