LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles police say a man's thumb was severed after he was attacked with a machete as four men tried to steal his bicycle early Sunday morning.

Sgt. John Marroquin said the suspects got out of a green sedan and tried to pull the man off his bicycle in the Pico-Union neighborhood.

Marroquin told City News Service that when the victim resisted, one of the suspects began hacking at him with a 24-inch machete. The man's left thumb was cut off and he also suffered lacerations to the left side of his face and hands and cuts to the back of his head.

Marroquin said the victim was taken to a hospital, where he was listed in critical but stable condition. He said the suspects drove away without the bike.