Danny Trejo, 80, got into a fight with parade attendees in Los Angeles
Danny Trejo, 80, got into a fight with parade-goers in the Sunland-Tujunga neighbourhood of Los Angeles on Thursday, July 4, as shown in videos posted by TMZ and elsewhere on social media.
The videos show Trejo getting out of his vehicle after a water balloon hit the car while participating in the parade with a vintage convertible with his friend Mario Castillo. People near the actor’s vehicle can be heard shouting “There is no water!” to a crowd out of sight before Trejo emerges to confront a group of people watching from the sidewalk.
The actor appeared to throw a punch in a scuffle with the crowd and was briefly knocked to the ground. He could also be seen throwing a nearby lawn chair as people gathered to try to break up the fight.
The incident lasted approximately 10 minutes before police arrived and the situation calmed down.
Danny Trejo’s Statement
The actor told Tmz that he panicked when he heard someone shout that the balloon contained “acid.”
“I’m so sad, because of how I behaved, so sad that grown men have to throw water balloons to enjoy a day,” Trejo told the outlet. “I don’t think I would have gotten out of the car if someone hadn’t yelled ‘It’s acid’. That’s when I panicked,” he added.
Trejo jumped out of the car to confront a group of people on the sidewalk and began fighting with a man wearing a black t-shirt. The alleged suspect threw a punch at Trejo as the two grabbed each other, causing the actor to fall backwards onto the street.
Trejo and Castillo claimed they were singled out because they are Mexican, especially since no one else was hit with water balloons during the parade.
“It was a target because there was no one else attacked by balloons either in front of or behind us,” Castillo said. “You know it was in our lowrider.”
According to the Los Angeles Times, the confrontation turned violent when a second water balloon was thrown at Trejo’s head.
“Everyone was holding him down,” Arnie Abramyan, who captured parts of the fight, told the newspaper. “There were a lot of people between him and the people who launched the water balloon. He was just upset. He was yelling, angry and trying to get to the guy who threw the water balloon.”
Other attendees at the Fourth of July celebration blamed Trejo for the fight and said he should have stayed in his car.
The injury suffered by Danny Trejo and his friend
Danny Trejo’s friend Castillo shows off his bruised eye and red, swollen arms, which he said had the other guys’ fingerprints all over them.
Authorities tell TMZ a radio call came in about a large fight… but by the time they arrived, the crowd had already dispersed, so no arrests were made. However, Danny spoke to the outlet after the water balloon drama, criticizing the people who threw it at him as “cowards,” and it seems like his tone hasn’t changed much after sleeping on it. Also read – Vanessa Hudgens welcomes first baby with Cole Tucker on her 28th birthday
Many people who attended the Fourth of July celebration blamed Trejo for the fight
“[Trejo] pushed women out of the way to get to those guys,” Sunland-Tujunga resident James Spishak told the Times. “There were children there. He could have gotten really ugly. It would never have happened if he had stayed in the car.”
“I love Danny Trejo, I think he’s a great guy, but he needs to know when to say ‘no,'” Spishak said, alleging that the actor slapped him while he was trying to break up the fight.
It took several assistants to break up the fight, and in later footage, Castillo was seen bleeding from one eye while Trejo was pinned down.