Hidden Camera Footage Captures Surf Turf Wars In Palos Verdes Estates

PALOS VERDES ESTATES (CBSLA.com) — Surfers are being accused of bullying outsiders so they can have the beach to themselves, and footage of a confrontation at Lunada Bay in Palos Verdes Estates has gone viral.

Rory Carroll, a newspaper reporter for The Guardian, took the hidden camera with him when he tried to surf at the spot.

The footage shows one person saying: "You can't have friends outside here because they're gonna want to come out here and surf, and you gotta pick and choose like Facebook."

Carroll says the surfers said they've surfed there for decades. He spoke to CBS2 via FaceTime.

"They said that they would burn us on every wave. They said, intimated, that there might be violence and that we should leave," he said.

Carroll never ended up going in the water but said when he got back to his car, it was vandalized.

"They had smeared surf wax on the windows of the car and this clearly was a warning to us not to return," he said.

Palos Verdes Peninsula police say they're familiar with this kind of behavior that's being going on since the '90s. As a result, they say, they often do extra patrols, and some officers even go undercover to ensure peace.

Police say the last arrest for assault was in the '90s, but the last known complaint for taunting was in March.

Carroll says it's unfortunate the bay can't be shared.

"As far as I knew, it's the Pacific Ocean, and nobody owns it," he said.