A man has faced a major backlash after a video showed him striking an autistic child after they touched his car.
Cell phone video footage shown a brief altercation that occurred in Pacoima, California, on Monday.
The victim was identified as Alfredo Morales, a 10 year-old autistic boy who was crossing the road with his older sister at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Osbourne Street when the boy reached out and touched the emblem on the man’s Mercedes-Benz sedan.
The man then made a U-turn and approached the two, who were waiting at a bus stop.
In the video, the man is seen getting out of his car and confronting the pair before slapping the child in the face and pointing at the pair of them.
It is not clear whether the child damaged the emblem at all, but the man is seen bending the hood ornament slightly before getting back into his car.
During the altercation, the sister can be heard pleading in Spanish, trying to explain that her younger brother is autistic and has special needs.
Family members of Alfredo have spoken to local outlets and expressed their outrage at the entire situation.
Miguel Morales, said Alfredo has autism and often touches objects around him to explore his environment. He also said he intends to file a police report about the incident and provide the video footage.
The man is seen getting out of his car and confronting the pair before slapping the child in the face and pointing at the pair of them. (KTLA)
The person who recorded the incident also spoke to KTLA, but did not want to be completely identified and only gave her name as Ashley.
Speaking of the incident, she said: “I was traumatized, I was shaking. I said, ‘Hey sir, stop! You can’t be doing that.’”
Since the incident went viral on social media, some people have shown up to the suspects home in order to confront him.
One concerned resident spoke to KTLA and said: “We’re here to support and to let the community know that this shouldn’t happen, especially with the boy being autistic.”
The father of the autistic child said he would be speaking to police about the incident.(KTLA)
A call was made to the Los Angeles Police Department at the time of the incident but by the time officers arrived at the bus, everyone was gone, according to reports.
The suspects’ car is believed to be a 2023 S-class sedan and costs around $146,000.
As well as dealing with this incident, the Morales family are also currently homeless and community members have since created a GoFundMe page for the family in order to get them appropriate housing.