Photo: APU GOMES / AFP / Getty Images
By: Ricardo Roura Posted 12 Sep 2023, 9:06 pm EDT
A Hispanic popsicle street vendor suffered a violent beating during an assault in the city of Los Angeles.
After recovering, and taking a weekend off, Jorge Méndez, 67, returned to the job to which he has dedicated his life, despite bearing on his face the marks of the beatings he received from the criminals who assaulted him..
The incident occurred at the intersection of Vermont Avenue and Adams Boulevard. Due to his injuries, the manager of the ice cream warehouse, Omar Villa, took Méndez to a hospital to receive medical attention.
Keep reading: Latino street vendor is assaulted in front of his daughter with autism in South Los Angeles
After recovering, The street vendor resumed his activity saying that this is not the first time he has suffered an experience of this type..
“The day they hit me, I couldn’t see anything, almost nothing,” Méndez told the Telemundo network.
In addition to hitting him, during the assault, The thieves stole the profits from the day’s sale, which amounted to $150 dollars..
“I don’t even have a phone. “They stole everything from me,” added the Hispanic street vendor.
It was the fourth assault that Méndez suffered, and In three of them he was beaten by the assailants..
“It is dangerous to be a paletero“said Méndez, who fortunately did not suffer any fractures from the attack.
Keep reading: Hispanic street vendor suffers theft of his savings, worth $24,000, in Huntington Park
“I thank God that something more dangerous did not happen. Maybe they would have left me dead there, who knows,” added the Hispanic.
Méndez resumed the activity to which he has dedicated 36 years of his lifealthough he acknowledged that he is going out into the streets again with fear.
“I have always liked being a salesman, because my mother taught me,” said Méndez.
In recent weeks, street food vendors have been victims of crimewhich has committed robberies in particular against trucks and stands that offer tacos in different parts of Los Angeles.
For street vendors like Méndez, they run the risk of Thieves can steal the pallet carts and leave them without the possibility of continuing with their commercial activities..
Keep reading:
· Authorities arrest suspect of being involved in robberies of taco vendors
· Los Angeles prosecutor charges woman with assault against taco vendors in Watts
· Hispanic taco vendor shot to death by two skateboard suspects in Westlake