Chaos on L.A. Streets After Police Break Up Illegal Party
Vocab level: C1
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It was not exactly a relaxing Memorial Day weekend for many.
In downtown Los Angeles, a rowdy crowd took to the street spraying graffiti on businesses and anything in their path,
including a commuter train where they also loudly banged on the windows, terrifying everyone on board.
Lisa Guerrero tells us how all the mayhem started.
Total mayhem.
Vandals confront a female police officer throwing a firecracker at her after attacking her squad car with graffiti.
The chaos is unfolding as a crowd rampages in downtown L.A.
Look, dozens of riot police are just standing by and watching.
As the female police officer enters her patrol car,
vandals kick her vehicle and continue to spray paint it even while she drives away.
The out of control behavior continues as the rowdy crowd targets two metro trains, banging on the windows.
Some even enter a train as terrified passengers look on.
Local businesses were also targeted and covered with graffiti,
and this guy shimmies up a signal light.
Today, graffiti still covers local businesses and work crews are trying to clean up.
So what triggered all this destruction?
Police say it started when they were breaking up an illegal rooftop party.
More than 1000 people had gathered on the rooftop to watch a punk band perform.
"This is an illegal party."
"If you do not exit, we will go in and arrest you."
When cops broke up the party, the unruly crowd took to the streets.
Instead of going home and calling it a night, this is what happens to our community.
I spoke to a detective investigating the damage
as questions mount as to why police were on scene, but no arrests were made.
There were police officers there. A lot of people are frustrated seeing those police officers not jumping into action.
Why would they stand back and allow this to happen?
"We do have our tactics in place,..."
"our best judgment at the time of the incident."
"But at this time, I can't even go into much more detail than that."
LA's Mayor Karen Bass expressed fury.
"It was egregious, completely unacceptable, and it has to be stopped."
One officer was taken to the hospital after getting hit in the face with a bottle.
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