A Livingston woman was beaten Wednesday night outside her home by a group of men, one of whom was wearing a law enforcement uniform, in what the Merced County Sheriff’s Department is calling an attempted robbery.

The 26-year-old woman suffered minor injuries from the attack, said sheriff spokesman Deputy Tom MacKenzie.

The incident began around 2 a.m. when the woman and her boyfriend awoke to someone knocking outside their home in the 14000 block of Magnolia Avenue in Livingston.

The woman answered the door and found an African American male in a California Highway Patrol jumpsuit uniform standing outside. The man told the couple that he needed to speak to them both outside.

The couple went outside and saw three other African American males and one Hispanic male wearing dark colored clothes with blue beanies.

“When she asks to see identification from the suspects, the one wearing the CHP uniform flips his wallet open and closed before she could see it,” MacKenzie stated. “None of the others were wearing uniforms and none had duty belts common with law enforcement officers.”

The woman told sheriff investigators she realized the men were not who they said they were and she attempted to run back inside the house, at which point she was struck in the back with an aluminum baseball bat.

The boyfriend jumped in and started fighting the men, allowing the woman to get up and run to a front house where a relative lives, MacKenzie said.

The woman was screaming for help and investigators believe this scared the attackers away. The suspects ran to a vehicle that was parked out of sight and sped off, MacKenzie said.

The boyfriend was not injured in the attack.

The suspects never said why they were there, but investigators believe they were there to rob the couple.

Anyone with information about the attack is asked to contact the Merced County Sheriff’s Department at 385-7472.