Video shows woman attacking street vendor in downtown LA

A longtime downtown Los Angeles street vendor is recovering after she was violently attacked by a woman last week. 

Cell phone video shows the woman confronting longtime street vendor Arabelia Martinez at her hot dog cart at Figueroa and 7th Streets. The woman is seen pouring what appears to be hot sauce over Martinez's food before the confrontation quickly escalates. 

When Martinez throws something back, the woman rushes toward her, throws her to the ground, grabs her by the hair and repeatedly attacks her as bystanders try to step in and help. 

"She tackled my mom," Martinez's son Constantino Garcia said. "My mom hit her head. She started pummeling my mom."

Garcia added that his mom is still recovering from the attack. He said the woman confronted his mother first by telling her she wasn't allowed to sell food and needed a permit. 

"She was trying to, basically, extort her for money," Garcia said. "Then she started making racist comments toward her. One of them was one of the most utterly disgusting things I've ever seen in my entire life, if not the most. Something that should never happen again to anyone."

Garcia said the woman used racist slurs during the encounter and damaged his mother's cart and food. 

The attack has sparked outrage across social media. Garcia created an online fundraiser to help his mother as she recovers. 

"She's sore all over her body," Garcia said. "She has to see a head specialist because she's getting a lot of severe headaches." 

A TikTok user claiming to be the woman in the video posted several clips of herself explaining and defending her actions. 

"People saying I antagonized her. OK, maybe. Maybe just a little bit by putting Chamoy on the hotdog," she said. "If you could throw Tajin and a bottle at me, how do I know what's coming next?"

Garcia said no matter what led up to the confrontation, the response went far beyond self-defense. He added that his focus remains on helping his mom recover from the trauma.

"I want her to get caught," Garcia said. "I want my mom to get justice for what happened to her."

The family has filed a police report. The Los Angeles Police Department said they are investigating the battery.

Detectives urged anyone with information about the incident or the suspect to report it at lacrimestoppers.org.