Activist wants to protect LA street vendors from rising crime

LOS ANGELES - There are about 75 street vendors along Alvarado Street and Wilshire Boulevard.

As activist Edin Enamorado goes from vendor to vendor along Alvarado by MacArthur Park he says that here, like in many parts of Southern California crimes against street vendors have seemingly gone up community-wide over the summer. Some street vendors have been robbed, hurt and even killed.

Fifty-three-year-old Daisy Alvarado had the important documents she carries with her ripped off just two weeks ago.

Enamorado has made it his mission to help street vendors after his dad was attacked. He guides and arms them.

"First of all I usually give them pepper spray, a horn. I ping their phone number and add them to my database," he said. He wants them to be able to call for help. Enamorado says August was the worst month, but in the Rampart Division, crimes like these have actually gone down. Los Angeles Police Department Captain Raul Jovel says officers have made it a mission to work with vendors who in many cases fear being arrested by ICE.

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"We are really dispelling those rumors and telling people we don't care about your legal status, and we want to let them know there are services out there for victims of violent crimes," said Jovel.

Then there's Enamorado who helped victims like the fruit vendor in Woodland Hills who had his stand chopped up by an angry neighbor, the family of Severino Guttierez who was killed in Gardena as his 7-year-old daughter watched on and Bertha Zuniga who was punched, robbed and tossed around by a suspect at her stand. 

Through GoFundMe appeals and social media he was able to raise 11,000 dollars to help her and her colleagues who were out of work after what happened and gave that to her Monday in a video seen on Instagram. It made her happy and, as for him, seeing vendors like Bertha happy makes him happy.