“Machete” star and Trejo's Tacos owner Danny Trejo got into a fight during a Fourth of July celebration in Sunland-Tujunga.
The fight broke out Thursday during a parade organized by a local Rotary Club, which the 80-year-old movie star attended as a guest. Trejo was driving a white, low-powered convertible in the parade but stopped his vehicle after someone threw a water balloon at him, according to a video shared on social media.
The “From Dusk Till Dawn” actor got out of his vehicle and confronted a group of patrons on the sidewalk. After another person threw another water balloon at his head, the Latino icon exchanged punches with a person wearing black shorts, a tank top and a hat. Trejo fell backwards from the sidewalk. The person can also be seen punching Trejo’s friend Mario Castillo, who was left bloodied after the incident, according to video posted by KTTV Fox 11.
The video shows Trejo standing up, grabbing a folding chair and throwing it into the brawling crowd. TMZ posted a video from another perspective, which shows another person holding Trejo back from the crowd.
“[Trejo] “He pushed the women to get to those guys,” James Spishak, a Sunland-Tujunga resident, told The Times. “There were kids there. It could have gotten really ugly. It never would have happened if he had stayed in the car.”
Spishak said Trejo slapped him when he ran into the crowd and tried to stop the fight. “I love Danny Trejo, I think he’s a great guy, but he needs to know when to say ‘no,’” Spishak said.
Representatives for Trejo did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment. The Rotary Club of Sunland/Tujunga/Shadow Hills, which organized the July 4 celebration, also did not immediately respond.
“Everyone was holding him back,” said Sunland-Tujunga resident Arnie Abramyan, who shared clips of the fight on Instagram. “There were a lot of people between him and the people who threw the water balloon. He was just upset. He was yelling, screaming, angry and trying to get to the guy who threw the water balloon.”
Abramyan, president of the Sunland-Tujunga Chamber of Commerce, told The Times that Trejo was participating in the neighborhood’s annual Fourth of July parade for the first time. Abramyan, whose Arnieville company is one of the event’s sponsors, said there was a designated area on the parade route where people could use Super Soakers and water balloons, but Trejo was not on that part of the route when he was hit by a water balloon.
Los Angeles police were responding to a different incident that occurred nearby and responded to the scene of the fight after it happened, Abramyan said. He added that officers told him Trejo did not want to press charges. Abramyan said he and the rest of the Chamber of Commerce held an emergency meeting after the parade to determine how to apologize to Trejo.
“I doubt I will participate [in the parade] “Again, but we definitely want to make amends and show love and respect,” Abramyan said.
