Two women were allegedly involved in knocking over a fruit stand in Westlake on Monday after a dispute with the vendor over a parking spot.
KTLA reported the altercation occurred at the corner of Rampart Boulevard and Sixth Street, where Sandra Quinonez, 51, has sold fruit from a small stand for more than 30 years.
One of the two alleged vandals was caught on video overturning a table laden with bananas, though the argument that precipitated the incident was not recorded.
Quinonez told KTLA a vehicle belonging to one of the women was parked across two spots next to her stand. She said she asked them to back it up so that she could park her own car there as well. They allegedly refused unless Quinonez paid them.
"My mom just asked them for a little bit of space so she could park correctly, and they said no, that they wouldn't move unless she paid them to move," Quinonez's daughter, Amalia Dias, told KTLA. "And my mom said 'No, I'm not going to pay you.'"
Before the stand was overturned, Quinonez said the women yelled racial slurs and threatened her with a gun. At that point, she called the police.
"I don’t know their motivation for it. I don't want to say it's a racial motive [because] that’s messed up. We're in 2021," Dias told KTLA. "But if it was, then those girls are who they are."
The Los Angeles Police Department said they have spoken with the women in the video and are investigating Quinonez's complaint as a possible assault with a deadly weapon.
Dias has started a GoFundMe page for her mother, who said she is reluctant to return to work at the Rampart and Sixth location.
