New Orleans police on Friday arrested an 18-year-old man accused of knocking out a Denver tourist in the Central Business District last weekend.

Mark Gregory Hunter Jr., of Belle Chasse, surrendered to police within hours of being publicly identified as a suspect in the attack on Whit Allen, who came to New Orleans to celebrate his 30th birthday. Hunter faces a count of second-degree battery.

Hunter had another brush with the law in late January, when he was arrested in connection with a massive, illegal street bike rally that rolled through New Orleans on Mardi Gras day last year.

Allen told WWL-TV that he was knocked out about 2 a.m. Sunday at the corner of Canal Street and St. Charles Avenue.

He said he and his friends were near their hotel when they spotted a group of young people on a "party bus" heckling a homeless woman with obscenities. Allen said he and his companions shouted at the people on the bus to stop bothering the woman, prompting some of the bus passengers to step down from the vehicle and confront them.

Allen said he was punched from behind and knocked unconscious as he was walking away from an exchange of words with those who had been on the bus. He told WWL-TV he lost several teeth, broke his jaw and was hospitalized.

He is back home in Denver but has months of doctor's and dentist's visits ahead of him to repair the damage.

One of Allen's companions called 911 when a second member of their group started getting battered, police said.

Police said they found the party bus at Canal and North Rampart streets, about four blocks away, but were told that those involved in the fracas had left.

Investigators said they later determined it was Hunter who had struck Allen and obtained a warrant to arrest him. Authorities announced Hunter was wanted in the case on Friday morning, and he turned himself in at New Orleans police headquarters in the afternoon.

Police haven’t said how they were led to Hunter or whether they intend to book anyone else in the attack on Allen. However, law enforcement sources said that investigators have multiple eyewitness statements implicating Hunter. 

Court documents show Hunter landed on law enforcement's radar after professing his allegiance on social media to the "New Orleans Bike Life" movement which organized a 150-participant dirt bike and ATV "rideout" that shut down a stretch of Interstate 10 in the city on Fat Tuesday 2018. 

The riders' wheelies, revving engines, trick riding and general takeover of city streets as well as a portion of the interstate highway were well-documented on social media and created an uproar even on a day known for wild happenings throughout New Orleans.

Louisiana State Police investigators found video clips of the rally on social media and identified Hunter in them. They obtained a warrant to arrest him and dozens of others on various criminal counts, including aggravated obstruction of a highway. 

Hunter was 17 at the time of the rideout, making him old enough to be booked as an adult. Authorities jailed him on Jan. 22, but he was soon released on a $3,500 recognizance bond. 

Judges can grant recognizance bonds in cases involving nonviolent crimes, such as obstructing a highway. 

Prosecutors are still evaluating whether to file charges against Hunter or the others linked to the Mardi Gras rideout, District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office said. Hunter is due back in court for that case on Feb. 20. 

In Louisiana, aggravated obstruction of a highway can carry up to 15 years in prison, but there is no mandatory minimum punishment.

Second-degree battery convictions can carry up to eight years in prison but also don't require a minimum sentence. 

Follow Ramon Antonio Vargas on Twitter, @RVargasAdvocate.

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