Man ordered to pay $2.8 million for attacks on street vendors
By Tom Wait
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WOODLAND HILLS, California (KCAL, KCBS) — A Woodland Hills man was ordered to pay two street vendors millions of dollars after a jury unanimously found him liable for assault.
“This gentleman, Daniel McGuire, who was a resident of the area, abruptly, without provocation, no reason whatsoever, attacked or at least tried to attack my clients,” attorney Christian Contreras said.
Contreras represented the two street vendors McGuire allegedly attacked in 2022. The court ordered him to pay them $2.8 million.
“He didn’t physically touch them or physically harm them, but he definitely put them through significant turmoil through his aggressive conduct, through his aggressive acts,” Contreras said. “And he would say very vulgar things.”
A cell phone video showed one of the incidents in which McGuire destroyed Jonathan Alvarez’s table and equipment with an axe. Alvarez said he was shaken and afraid.
“The truth is, in that moment, I was really afraid,” Alvarez said in Spanish. “The guy threatened my life.”
Two years after the attack Alvarez is glad that he received some semblance of justice.
“I feel justice has been done because of the behavior that he did,” Alvarez said in Spanish.
Recent attacks on street vendors have raised safety concerns.
“These are individuals who aren’t causing any harm to anyone,” Contreras said.
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