An outraged group collected on the steps of San Bernardino Town Corridor right after a viral online video confirmed a avenue seller staying handcuffed when his meals and products was confiscated.
Police arrived at Baseline Road and Del Rosa Avenue on Saturday while Cesar Marroquin was advertising tacos alongside other street sellers.
The problem escalated and Marroquin was detained as he requested, “Why do you deal with me like a felony?”
Christian Contreras, the family’s legal professional, reported vendors are remaining “taken benefit of.”
“We’re right here nowadays to announce that we are filing a sweeping civil legal rights lawsuit in opposition to San Bernardino and their egregious civil legal rights violation based mostly on them concentrating on street suppliers,” Contreras included.
The Marroquin family members did not normally function as avenue vendors the pandemic shut down their catering business enterprise, forcing them to pivot.
“We applied all our financial savings to endure and when nearly that was long gone my spouse say, ‘You know what, we’re heading to commence street vending,” mentioned Ivon Ceja, Marroquin’s spouse.
Marroquin also suffered a coronary heart assault in May well, and soon after Saturday’s incident, he started off owning chest pains, forcing him to be hospitalized once again.
“For us seeing him go as a result of this, we had been genuinely fearful,” Ceja said.
The town of San Bernardino has refuted Marroquin’s statements, declaring he’d been warned quite a few periods that he was not thoroughly permitted.
“This individual seller is not a stranger to town code enforcement,” stated city spokesperson Jeff Kraus. “They have been engaged with on numerous situations … He experienced talked to code enforcement and had been advised that it is not very significantly from becoming a authorized foods truck.”
Even though the condition handed Senate Monthly bill 946 in 2018, which largely decriminalized street suppliers, cities and counties are allowed to have their own codes.
However, some argue that the system is lengthy and highly-priced, generating it challenging to comply whilst there are expenses to shell out.
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