Man seen on video punching 2 women in Los Angeles turns himself in

The Los Angeles Police Department posted a Facebook video Tuesday showing a man punching two women and knocking them to the ground before fleeing the scene.

The incident took place Saturday at a hot dog stand in the city, the LAPD said. By Wednesday afternoon, the video had been viewed more than 80,000 times.

The suspect, identified as Arka Sangbarani Oroojian, turned himself in Tuesday night, LAPD said Wednesday. He was booked for assault with a deadly weapon and his bail was set at $90,000.

After the incident, one witness told CBS Los Angeles the women started the fight. "There are two sides to every story and those women started it," said the witness, identified only as Stewart.

Stewart said the altercation started when the man got into a dispute with vendors about the price of a hot dog. He told KTLA-TV the two women got involved, calling the man derogatory names and telling him to leave the vendors alone.

"They started punching on him first and once they punched on him first and jumped on his back, then he defended himself by counter-punching these women so the video only caught the second glimpse of the story," Stewart said.

The father of one of the women said they were standing up for a street vendor that the man was hassling just before the fight began, KTLA reported.

The video shows witnesses watching the two women get punched. No one appeared to go after the man when he ran away.

Stewart said the lack of intervention was because "guys don't want to get into it, fighting this guy and get charges pressed on them."  

In:
• Los Angeles
• Los Angeles Police Department