Officials Ask for Public's Help in Identifying Suspects in Taxi Torching
Video Still / LAFD
A still from video released Friday by LAFD shows fire being set to a taxi on Flower street Thursday night in the aftermath of the Lakers' NBA championship win.
DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — The Los Angeles Fire Department yesterday afternoon released video it had received of a taxi set on fire in the Financial District following the Lakers' championship win. The department asks for the public's help in identifying those seen on the tape.
The incident took place on Flower street, between 7th and 8th.
In a posting on its LAFD News and Information blog, the department writes:
If you have information regarding those seen in this troubling video - especially the person(s) igniting and stoking the spread of flame, please call the LAFD Arson/Counter-Terrorism Section directly at (213) 485-6095.
Those with surveillance camera footage or personal camera and cellphone video of this and other acts of arson are encouraged to call LAFD Investigators.
The mayhem that followed Thursday's win was similar to what occured last year after the Lakers won their 15th NBA title in Orlando.
In the aftermath of that event, public safety officials combed online photos and video in search of those who had committed the acts. At a September press conference announcing the arrest of a man who had participated in looting a Shell station, the head of Central Division detectives emphasized the new role of social media in crime fighting.
"It's nearly impossible to stay anonymous in this age of cell phones, video and social websites," said Lt. Paul Vernon, "and that's a good thing, if it holds more people accountable for their behavior."
Tornadoes28 on June 19, 2010, at 08:39PM – #1
Nice picture there of a tatooed latino acting like an idiot. Morons.
Guest on June 20, 2010, at 01:41AM – #2
comment number 1 is pure racist filth! shame on you!!
Guest on June 20, 2010, at 06:10AM – #3
Someone should send this to Obama so he can see what decades of illegal immigration breeds, hard to believe this is the United States and not Mexico or some Third World Country. Way to go Los Angeles, look what you have become.
Jasmijn on June 20, 2010, at 12:47PM – #4
The video makes me think of Animal Planet shows of angry chimpanzees more than anything else. And if you watch it, you'll see they are by no means all Latinos. . . although they are obviously all savage idiots.
Guest on June 20, 2010, at 02:02PM – #5
At least one of these freakin losers tagged the car, shouldn't take long to figure out who he is (what a genius!). And one of their own gives the video to the LAFD? Now that's a true homey. PS, this video is 6 minutes long, in the heart of the action, and no cops are anywhere to be seen. Fuck the LAPD, they're a joke.
Guest on June 20, 2010, at 03:28PM – #6
At least 2 photos posted to the KNBC web site showed people in Thursday night's melee proudly waving the flag of Mexico. If I didn't know better, I'd think the photographer and webpage administrator were trying to be xenophobic or RACIST!!!
I'm racist for merely bring this to people's attention. Shame on me.
Guest on June 20, 2010, at 04:47PM – #7
Who ever did this or was involved with this should be completely ashamed of themselves. This is not how real Laker fans are. This is just a punk ass thing to do. They took somones meal ticket from them for awhile.
Guest on June 20, 2010, at 08:52PM – #8
Guest 5: Did you have fun that night???
Susana Benavidez on June 20, 2010, at 09:12PM – #9
I don't see why racist comments are accepted or allowed here if they are from an anonymous "guest". Disgusted...
J-M on June 20, 2010, at 10:40PM – #10
Ditto. Agree with Susana. As disgusted as I am with the whole episode, there's no need for that kind of talk.
Guest on June 20, 2010, at 11:43PM – #11
HELLO IDIOTS, it's not racist, Mexican isnt a race... no one is saying all Hispanic people are bad... people are saying...look at the majority, look at the people committing the crimes, you can't deny what you see. It's a shame we let our city get trashed year after year because we are too afraid to control people of all races that cannot not act like HUMANS! And the people more worried about racism rather than preserving Downtown and our safety need to get a life.
Racism is the least of our worries people. Get Human or get lost.
Dan Harris - Title Guarantee Building. Come find me if you have a problem.
J-M on June 21, 2010, at 08:56AM – #12
Thanks Dan. Always appreciate being called an idiot. If you've watched the video, then you've seen that the people torching the car and mugging around for photos were hardly all Latino. And right now I'm pretty disgusted with humans, white, brown, black, yellow, whatever.
Susana Benavidez on June 21, 2010, at 10:53AM – #13
Dan
Your ignorance and intolerance for Latinos is evident; I made my comment based on the "guest" who is claiming that illegal immigration is the cause for the rioters last night. For someone to make a conclusion of immigration status based on color and appearance of a Human Being is racist in my opinion.
I am not a thug nor wish to ever run into you. I am concerned about the safety and well-being of downtown Los Angeles. As a resident of South Park I had a front seat to the chaos of that night and the culprits' background was not limited to any color, race, or age group.
I feel violated after having seen all of the damage done to our neighborhood post-game; I don't want to feel violated again by blanket statements about Latinos based on the actions of a few.
Guest on June 22, 2010, at 09:59PM – #14
don't hate. they were just being true to la raza!
Guest on June 22, 2010, at 11:30PM – #15
I saw quite a bit of Mexican flag waving and I didn't see flags from other countries. So of course people are going to blame the Mexicans for a lot of the damage. I know not all Mexicans are thugs. In fact, if I were Mexican, I'd be pissed that a bunch of thugs would come to South Park to destroy property while holding the Mexican flag, but that's what happened. Non Mexicans are not the ones who made it into a race thing. The Mexican flag wavers who destroyed our neighborhood are.
Guest on June 23, 2010, at 01:06AM – #16
NIMBY
Guest on June 23, 2010, at 12:44PM – #17
Just watched that disturbing video from beginning to end. Some of the commenters are correct, it is not all latinos. There are several black guys as well...in fact the person who originally lit the cab on fire is black. Based on my count and carefully watching the video, it is about 85% latino and 15% black perpetrators.
Guest on June 23, 2010, at 03:23PM – #18
But more importantly, notice the almost total absence of women.
Nancy Richardson (@nanorich) on June 23, 2010, at 04:49PM – #19
Sport hooliganism tends to be a male activity.
Guest on June 23, 2010, at 05:37PM – #20
^ obviously. The comment was meant as props to women who don't engage in such embarrassing behavior that only makes them look like total morons.
Mostly male police force policing male monkeys. Nauseating and predictable.