SAN DIEGO -- A search was under way Tuesday for a teenage boy who stabbed a 36-year-old man on the street after the man refused to buy him cigarettes, San Diego police said.

The man was walking in the Teralta East area shortly before midnight when the teen approached him in the 4700 block of University Avenue and asked him to buy cigarettes, San Diego police Sgt. Bob Dare said.

When the man refused, the teen, who appeared to be about 17 years old, stabbed the man once in the back and ran away, Dare said.

The man was taken to the hospital, where his wound was determined to be non-life-threatening, he said.

The teen is Latino, around 5 feet 5 inches, 160 pounds with black hair. He was last seen wearing a black T-shirt, Dare said.