CALIFORNIA—On June 30, the Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office announced that Harmunie Heaven Church, 19, was charged with assault, including one felony count each of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury, aggravated battery, and vandalism, for assaulting Arabelia Martinez, 60, a hot dog vendor in downtown Los Angeles.
The assault occurred on June 15, around 3:45 p.m., at Martinez’s stand near the FIGat7th shopping center, an open-air shopping and dining center in downtown Los Angeles at 735 South Figueroa Street
Before the assault, Church and Martinez argued over the purchase of a hot dog. The video of the assault, available on ABC 7 Los Angeles’s Instagram page, shows Church squirting a substance from a condiment container onto the cart. Martinez tosses a powder from another container at Church. Church goes around the other side of the cart, grabs Martinez by the hair, and pushes her to the ground.
Several bystanders, including those who appear to be filming the assault, try to pull the two women apart but fail. Once Martinez was on the ground, she was punched in the head multiple times while insults were yelled at her, and her cart was damaged.
Martinez’s son, Constantino Garcia, created a GoFundMe account to raise money for his mother’s therapy and recovery, which has raised $143,872.
Church pleaded not guilty to all charges during her arraignment on June 29 and bail was set at $105,000. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for July 13 in Department 41 at the Foltz Criminal Justice Center. If convicted, she faces 7 years and 8 months in state prison.
The investigation is ongoing and is being conducted by the Central Division of the Los Angeles Police Department.
