A clip of the attack was posted on social media by Torrance woman Itzel Lopez on Thursday. The footage begins with a female making an obscene gesture with her hands and telling Lopez “white lives matter, b***h” while she records her.
The camera then turns to the other side of the car, where a white male gives a Nazi salute to the pair.
The man then retrieves something from the back of the truck he was driving and attempts to smash it against the couple’s car before they manage to drive away.
“I experience racism in an extremely traumatic way. I’ve been racially profiled for so long,” Lopez wrote on Instagram.
“On my 25th birthday I was a victim of racism and so was my boyfriend who is Black. We were being harassed for miles until we came to a red light. When all this happened they hit the car, caused damage to his car.”
Speaking to KTLA, Lopez said the pair were driving behind them for several miles before pulling up in front of their car as they approached a red light at the intersection of Artesia Boulevard and Prairie Avenue around 10:30 p.m.
A post shared by @ izzeee.e on Jul 22, 2020 at 11:17pm PDT
“I don’t know why they followed us for miles until we came to a complete stop because they cut us in front,” she said. “We tried to get away. She kept standing in front of the car, and wouldn’t let us leave.”
Lopez said she was “afraid” when the man started attacking the car as they didn’t know what else the pair had in their truck.
“We were just coming back from having my birthday dinner,” Lopez said. “We were just in shock. We didn’t know what was going on. Why were they doing it? They don’t know us. They were being really mean and racist.”
“It really threw me off. Never in my life did I think I was gonna experience this,” Lopez said. “It’s actually really scary. They don’t even know you and they’re willing to hurt you. It’s sad.”
In a tweet, Torrance Police confirmed they are looking into the incident.
“This morning we were made aware of the video that has been circulating on social media regarding a crime that occurred within the City of Torrance. The victim has been contacted and detectives are actively investigating this incident,” the department said.
