A Woodland Hills man who terrorized road distributors utilizing violence, racist language and an ax should pay two victims a complete of greater than $2.8 million.
On Wednesday, a jury discovered Daniel McGuire responsible of assault, inflicting emotional misery and committing violent acts, amongst different offenses, in opposition to distributors Jonathan Alvarez and Tomas Leocadio — each of whom relied on their fruit stands as their sole supply of revenue.
McGuire’s “reign of terror” befell between February and August 2022, lawyer Christian Contreras wrote in court docket paperwork. Throughout that interval, McGuire repeatedly harassed distributors working on the intersection of Canoga Avenue and Dumetz Street in Woodland Hills, the criticism states.
In March of that 12 months, McGuire printed and distributed a racist manifesto across the neighborhood, referring to fruit distributors as “sub-American illegal aliens,” “hardened criminals” and “cockroaches that need to be ground into the dirt,” in response to the criticism.
The identical month, McGuire “terrorized” Leocadio utilizing racist and vulgar language, inflicting the seller to take away his stand from the intersection, the criticism states.
That August, McGuire was captured on digicam destroying Alvarez’s fruit stand with an ax.
In Could 2022, native residents held a small rally in help of road distributors. Video captured from the occasion appeared to point out McGuire yelling at demonstrators and spraying them with a backyard hose.
In a press release supplied to Fox 11 on Wednesday, the plaintiffs’ attorneys praised the jury’s ruling for sending a message that L.A. is not going to tolerate hate and violence in opposition to road distributors.
“This is a landmark street vendor verdict reflecting the communities’ support of street vendors and the rejection of racism, bigotry and hate against street vendors,” the assertion stated.
The civil jury trial, which befell in Van Nuys Courthouse East, discovered McGuire responsible of assault, intentional infliction of emotional misery and negligence. He was additionally present in violation of the Ralph and Bane acts — two California civil rights legal guidelines that supply safety from hate, violence and intimidation.
Alvarez is entitled to about $1.57 million in damages and Leocadio about $1.27 million, the jury determined.
