LOS ANGELES () — A local street vendor is recovering after a brutal attack at her stand in downtown Los Angeles. And it was all caught on video.
A video posted to Instagram on Sunday shows some type of argument between a woman and the street vendor. The woman is seen dumping hot sauce on the vendor’s hot dogs causing the vendor to throw a red powder at the woman. The altercation quickly escalated to a physical attack.
The woman approaches the street vendor as the vendor tries to get away. Both then fall to the ground and the woman throws punches to the back of the vendor’s head, according to the video.
Bystanders attempt to separate the women and stop the attack. As the vendor is being helped up from the ground and begins walking away, the video shows the woman coming up behind the vendor and once again begins to beat her on the head and face before pulling the vendor by the hair and onto the ground.
Several people eventually manage to stop the attack and pull the woman away as she attempts to attack the vendor a third time.
A GoFundMe page set up by the victim’s son identifies the street vendor as Arabelia Martinez.
“A beautiful, hardworking street vendor in downtown Los Angeles,” the page’s description says. “My mom has dedicated herself to her work every single day, rain or shine, to provide for our family. She is one of the most resilient and loving people I know, and no one deserves what happened to her. The assault not only left her physically and emotionally shaken, but also resulted in damage to the items she works so hard to maintain.”
Funds raised will go toward Arabelia’s therapy and recovery while giving her time off from work to heal and will help replace damaged items from her stand. Her cart, which is her livelihood, was damaged in the attack.
The LAPD is investigating the incident.
The victim’s family says race may have been a factor. The longtime street vendor’s son says the unidentified woman began harassing his mother as she sold food near Figueroa and 7th streets, telling her to go back to Mexico and making racist comments.
Sebastian Gutierrez, who delivers for Uber eats says he couldn’t believe what happened.
“It was horrible. It really made me angry, myself, witnessing that. Worse than a lot of the others. I’ve seen other times people getting attacked, and what not here, but that really, it just feels so wrong. It’s just like, there’s no reason to be doing that at all,” Gutierrez said.
Gutierrez added that the woman appeared to have mental health issues or be under the influence.
“And then I see her suddenly push over all of the items of at least one of these vendor stands. Dozens of fruit cups, an entire hot dog cart,” said Gutierrez.
Police continue searching for the suspect.
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