Video: Two men severely beaten after mooning store owner

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BELLINGHAM, Wash. -- Two men face assault charges after police say they took the law into their own hands and beat two other men so badly with a baseball bat, the bat actually broke.

It started like most Friday nights at Access Comics. Owner Lanny Wolff and some friends were playing the card game "Magic: The Gathering" when three men who had been drinking nearby came walking in.

The men left, but returned a few minutes later. At the front window, Wolff says the man dropped their pants and pressed their backsides to the glass, causing it to break.

"It just shattered. Probably three, four feet of it," said Wolff.

Police say the men then took off running down the street. Two of the other men playing in the card game gave chase armed with a baseball bat.

Just a few blocks away, investigators say the 19-and 42-year-old vigilantes caught up to the men and beat two of them in the head, causing the bat to break.

"I think we all know what kind of force it takes to break a bat," said Lt. Steve Felmley, Bellingham Police.

One victim suffered a fracture above his eye. The other suffered a skull fracture and bleeding on the brain. At last check, police say that victim was in serious condition.

The two accused of the attack appeared in court Monday. The sister of one of them says they were just trying to follow the men to help police and used the bat as self-defense.

"All he was doing was defending himself and he couldn't even do that with three guys on top of him punching him, hitting him, strangling him, everything," said Carla Van Duisen.

Now the two men will have to defend themselves in court. If convicted on felony assault charges, they could spend the rest of their lives in prison.