Cops called on Van Nuys 'flower grandma' on Mother's Day

Van Nuys community rallies around 'flower grandma'

After the cops were called on a flower vendor on a Van Nuys street corner on Mother's Day, the community gathered to support her, buying up all the flowers she had for sale.

LOS ANGELES - Mother's Day weekend is huge for flower vendors, including one 83-year-old woman who can usually be seen on the corner of Sherman Way and Sepulveda Boulevard in Van Nuys.

This weekend, though, LAPD officers approached the woman known to locals as "the flower grandma," saying they'd gotten a call complaining she did not have a permit. Other vendors in the area, including the owner of the popular Pupusa Express truck usually parked in the same corner, were upset.

"I know [the] police have to do what they have to do," said Nelson Gonzalez, "but, really?" He reacted by taking his phone and going live on social media to show what was happening. In the video, officers are seen telling him to step back, eventually taking his phone and handcuffing him.

Seeing that scene live on social media, people began to show up at the corner. One of them, Nelson Martin Sandoval, began going live on TikTok, saying he was there to buy flowers. It wasn't long before dozens of people showed up and bought every single flower from the woman, even saying they'd pay off her citation if she got one.

Officers at LAPD's Vann Nuys Division said over the phone that the officers were responding to a legitimate call, and can detain someone if they feel they are interfering with their investigation. But they did not arrest Gonzalez, nor the flower grandma.