Woman seen in wild video attacking LA taco vendor arrested

August 10, 2023

A woman videotaped savagely beating up a female taco vendor in Los Angeles — and then fleeing in a purple Lexus without paying for her food — has been arrested.

Renee Hines, 36, from Bakersfield, was busted Wednesday and booked into the Los Angeles County jail on a charge of assault with a deadly weapon in connection with Sunday’s violent attack, the Los Angeles Police Department announced in a press release.

On top of her legal troubles, Hines also was fired from her job as a temporary contractor after her employer learned of the viral video.

Yusen Logistics America, a global supply chain company headquartered in New Jersey, told the Los Angeles Times it terminated a work agreement with Hines, who had been assigned to the firm by her employer, Simplified Labor Staff Solutions.

Renee Hines, 36, is seen in a viral video attacking a Los Angeles taco vendor Sunday — Police in Los Angeles have arrested Renee Hines, 36, who they say was seen in a viral video attacking a taco vendor Sunday.

Attacker seen in a video hitting a taco vendor — The suspect repeatedly punched the taco stand operator after refusing to pay for her food.

Tacos Ortiz is pictured in Los Angeles' Watts neighborhood — The violent incident took place at Tacos Ortiz on Grandee Avenue in Los Angeles’ Watts neighborhood.

A Yusen rep said the company “does not condone violence of any kind.”

“We were alerted to an online video of a temporary worker whom her employer had assigned to work at one of our warehouses,” a statement from Yusen said. “This person is no longer assigned to work at our company and will not be allowed to return to any of our facilities.”

Hines has been identified by LAPD detectives as a woman seen in a video trashing the Tacos Ortiz stand at Grandee Avenue and 103rd Street in Watts around 6:35 p.m. Sunday.

Cops said Hines “punched and pepper sprayed” vendor Joanna Vasquez after she asked her customer to pay for the tacos that she’d ordered and eaten.

Cellphone footage captured by Vasquez’s co-worker shows Hines yanking on Vasquez’s shirt while repeatedly pummeling the much smaller woman and calling her a “bitch.”

Suspect is seen next to her purple Lexus — Police said Hines, who arrived in a purple Lexus, tried to dine-and-dash, before flipping on the taco stand’s staff.

Victim Joanna Vasquez is pictured — Joanna Vasquez said the attacker pepper sprayed her and punched her in the shoulders and the face.

“She pulled my hair and then punched me in my shoulders,” Vasquez told the news station KTLA in Spanish. “She punched me in the face. She unloaded on me and then let me go.”

The unhinged dine-and-dasher also trashed the stand, knocking items off a table, and hurled a sandwich board sign at Vasquez’s co-worker when she noticed he was recording her license plate number.

The taco-loving freeloader, wearing a short pink dress and flip-flops, then returned to her purple sedan and took off.

The operators of Tacos Ortiz filed a police report and posted the video of the attack on Instagram, appealing to the public for help with identifying the hungry hothead.

Hines is seen grabbing a sandwich board sign and hurling it at a man — After Hines noticed one of the workers filming her license plate, she grabbed a sandwich board sign and hurled it at the man.

“I just want her to pay for what she did,” Vasquez said before Hines’ arrest. “They need to put her in jail and fine her and she needs to pay for all the damage because it is not right what she did.”

Edin Alex Enamorado, a street vendor advocate, told the LA Times that Hines had eaten at Tacos Ortiz at least twice before and allegedly left without paying.