Man punches women in fight over $6 hot dog as Los Angeles crowd watches, video shows

Los Angeles police released a video on Tuesday that shows a man “brutally” punching two women at a downtown hot dog stand last week, in hopes that a viewer may recognize him, according to the department.

“Someone knows him, and we would like to be one of those people,” police wrote on Twitter along with the video.

Video catches the bearded man punching the two women multiple times — one after the other — as onlookers watch from the sidelines on Jan. 26 and shout in the background. After knocking both women to the ground, the man runs into the street and away from the hot dog stand, video shows. The man’s face is clearly visible.

“Get him, get him, get him,” one man yells in the video as the man runs off.

The video posted by Los Angeles police has been retweeted more than 1,500 times.

Mike Watson shared a video of the incident on Facebook, where it has been viewed more than 35,000 times since Sunday. Watson wrote in his Facebook post that the crowd of people should have intervened — but instead, he said, the video shows them “hoop and holler as if they are watching an MMA fight!”

“I don’t know what this world is coming to, or who is raising our next generation of young men,” Watson wrote, adding that his daughter was one of the victims. “My family and I are disgusted to say the least.”

Watson said he posted the video on Facebook to find out who the man is.

One of the victims, who was not identified because she’s the victim of a crime, said the spectacle began with the man getting upset with a hot dog seller because the food cost $6, NBC6 reports. The two women got involved as the situation grew more tense and another hot dog stand offered the man food.

“Me and my friend said something like, ‘Just leave,’” the woman said, according to the TV station.

Los Angeles police detective Meghan Aguilar said the woman made the comment because the line was growing long, and the man began punching the two women in response, the Los Angeles Times reports.

“He socked them both in the face not once, but MULTIPLE times, some of which were not caught on film,” Watson wrote in his Facebook post, adding that “both ended up in ER, and NOBODY even tried to help them up.”

Both women were treated at a hospital in downtown Los Angeles, and they have now been released, NBC reports. Police said each woman had a concussion and one had a broken finger, according to the Times. The woman who spoke to NBC, a nursing student, had a bruised jaw, the TV station reports.

“It upsets me nobody did anything,” the woman told NBC.

Witnesses at the hot dog stand didn’t call authorities about the incident, according to police — but the women told officers about the assault themselves on Sunday, the Times reports. Police said they’re now investigating the video as an assault with a deadly weapon case.

“If people don’t call, the police can’t do anything,” Aguilar said, according to the Times.

Police described the man as roughly 30 years old, between 6’2” and 6’4 and 205 to 275 pounds, FOX LA reports.

Anyone with information in the case is asked to call Los Angeles detectives at 213-996-1851, police said.

This story was originally published January 29, 2019 at 2:53 PM with the headline "Man punches women in fight over $6 hot dog as Los Angeles crowd watches, video shows."