Zac Efron attacked in downtown LA

Zac Efron ended up getting violently socked in the mouth by a sketchy transient in a bad area of downtown L.A.

According to TMZ, cops were on patrol under the Harbor Freeway when they spotted the 'High School Musical' star and a man he identified as his bodyguard in a full-blown melee with at least 3 other people.

According to the sources, Efron told cops that they had run out of gas and were sitting in the car while waiting for a tow truck when they threw a bottle out of the window, which smashed on the pavement near a group of transients.

Efron said that the transients confronted him and his bodyguard, believing that the pair had hurled the bottle at them.

Efron said that two of the transients attacked the bodyguard and when he got out of the car to help, he got cold cocked in the mouth.

He also said that it was the hardest he has ever been hit in his life.