A Los Angeles woman has been arrested and charged with assaulting workers at a taco stand, which was all captured on video and given to authorities.
On Sunday, officers responded to a call of a woman assaulting the workers near the intersection of Grandee Avenue and 103rd Street, according to the Los Angeles Police Department.
An investigation found that the suspect, Renee Latrice Hines, punched and pepper sprayed the employees after she was asked to pay for food she ordered and had already eaten.
“I was in shock, you could say,” Joana Vasquez, one of the workers who assaulted told KABC. “I didn’t know what to do, to defend myself or not, because one, she was hitting me and I said if, ‘I defend myself, I will get hurt more.'”
Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics arrived at the scene shortly after the incident and treated Vasquez for her injuries.
The owner of the taco stand said that this isn’t the first time Hines ordered food and then refused to pay.
“She sprayed the pepper spray on us,” Vasquez said. “The only thing I wanted to do was to cry and yell. I don’t know because I was in so much pain.”
On Wednesday, authorities identified the suspect as a 36-year-old and was named a person of interest. At the time, detectives urged the public to provide any information leading to her capture.
Hines was found and detained the next day. She has been charged with assault with a deadly weapon. Her bail has been set at $30,000.
“According to police, one of the workers began recording Hines after the assault as she walked to her car,” the KABC report reads. “Police said Hines got upset and allegedly grabbed the taco stand sign and threw it in the worker’s direction before fleeing in a vehicle.”
The LAPD is asking anyone with more information about the incident to contact Detective Channing Lang of the LAPD at (213) 972-7888 or Detective Kelly Sullivan at (213) 972-7886.
City News Service contributed to this report.
