San Pedro family car vandalized with racial slurs is restored courtesy of auto business

A car that was vandalized with hate speech days before Christmas has been restored to its former glory thanks to generosity of a Los Angeles auto body shop.

Reginald Scott was teary-eyed as he looked at his pristine red 2007 Ford Mustang G-T. The beloved car had been spray-painted with racial slurs and swastikas while parked outside Scott's San Pedro home. Scott was emotional as he thanked Mario Vasquez of Tint My Ride, who fixed the car for free.  

Scott also thanked those who stood by him and his family following the hate crime.

"It's just us by ourselves, we don't have any family members to help us. And just knowing that L.A. in general helped with everything, Karen Bass called to see how everything was going," Scott said.

Neighbors of the Scott family reported the vandalism to police on Dec. 29. The car was covered with black spray-painted swastikas, the n-word and "merry Christmas."  

Scott said this was not the only time his car was damaged. He said he's had his car towed, tires slashed and even set on fire, and the December incident is just the latest in a long trend of targeted attacks.  

Vasquez of Tint My Ride, said the car was in pretty bad shape with spray paint all over it, and with other damages and scratches. He said since it happened during Christmas, he decided to donate the time to fix the car. The work took almost two months to complete.

Scott said he was at the auto shop a lot as his Mustang was getting repaired, and he joked saying Vasquez is probably tired of him.

"But you know we had talks about not holding a grudge against anyone, not being racist, teaching my kids not to be racist, and … not going back to retaliating," Scott said. 

The LAPD is still searching for the vandals responsible for the crime.