Motorists slowed to gawk at Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies milling around a Compton tire store and the large words spray-painted black on the front of the business: “Dear Customers, Due to the SITCHES, no se quemen”, and in Spanish, “no quema” – without burning.
One of the dozen officers standing outside the business on Rosecrans Avenue — some in khaki uniforms, others in plain clothes with bulletproof vests over their sweatshirts and T-shirts — told a Times reporter Tuesday that they were helping the city with a “routine inspection”.
When asked about the message left on the wall, the deputy said, “I don't know anything about it.”
Bernardo López, who owns the tire store with his mother, told the Times that he wrote the message himself after learning that city officials were investigating his business on suspicion of selling tires to street racers who have taken over the streets. intersections to carry out burns and other illegal maneuvers.
Lopez, who says he can't control what customers do with their tires, said it was out of sheer frustration that he grabbed a can of spray paint and scrawled on the front of his own store a message for street racers to stay away. .
“We tell the kids, 'Don't burn here,'” Lopez's 60-year-old mother, Natalia, said in Spanish, sitting in a folding chair among tall piles of used tires at the business named after her grandson. . “Go somewhere else. We don't want the noise. We make an honest living.”
The dispute at Jeffrey's Tires and Rims, which was ordered closed by the city this week for code violations, is the latest flashpoint in authorities' crackdown on street takeovers. The issue has angered many residents and business owners in Compton, who point out that perpetrators who block traffic and perform dangerous stunts also vandalize and steal from nearby businesses.
Last month, a crowd attending a takeover at El Segundo Boulevard and Santa Fe Avenue invaded Ruben's Bakery & Mexican Food, ramming a Kia Soul through the front door before looting the 40-year-old family business. Sheriff's deputies arrested the alleged driver of the Kia, a 13-year-old boy. Hours after being released, the teen was arrested trying to rob a 7-Eleven in Carson, authorities said.
Three weeks after the robbery at Ruben's Bakery & Mexican Food, four people were shot, none fatally, in a shooting at Alondra Boulevard and Central Avenue. Authorities reported five other sideshows that same night in Compton and South Los Angeles.
The problem has become so bad in Compton that the captain of the city's sheriff's substation called it “the mecca of street shootings.”
In a statement to the Times, a spokesperson for the city of Compton said: “We assure the public that we are actively monitoring the situation and exploring all necessary measures to address concerns related to street takeovers and illegal street racing within of our community.
The city declined to comment further, citing an ongoing investigation.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department did not respond to The Times' questions about Jeffrey's Tires.
A law enforcement source who was not authorized to speak to the media and requested anonymity said Jeffrey's Tires was suspected of installing old, worn-out tires on street racers' cars so they would not damage their everyday tires when they burned them.
Bernardo and Natalia López denied it. They only sold used tires that were in good working order, they said, and when they changed a customer's tires, they would get rid of the old ones and not resell them.
The mother and son have owned the store, located between Chevron and the Rose Motel near Rosecrans and Wilmington avenues, for about a year and a half. Business used to be good, Bernardo López said, because they sold used tires for $45 each, unlike the “greedy” stores in the area that charge $60 or more.
They acknowledged that some of their clients were street racers. Bernardo López believes the city began investigating his store after seeing its bumper stickers at fairs; He distributes the stickers in exchange for discounts as a marketing strategy, he said.
Yes, they used to stay open late, until 3 a.m., but so do most tire stores in Compton, Natalia Lopez said, noting that some operate 24 hours a day.
Natalia López said she and her son should not be responsible for what customers do with the tires they sell. “When people come to buy, customers, we have to sell to them,” she said. “We can't make assumptions.”
For now, the city is not cracking down on the business for selling tires to street racers, but rather for code violations: operating without a business license and unsafe conditions, including tires piled up in the driveway, according to a compliance department notice. of the city code. .
When code and fire inspectors showed up at the business Tuesday, they were accompanied by so many sheriff's deputies that Natalia Lopez fainted, according to surveillance footage and documents of her admission to the hospital for high blood pressure.
“All the emotions, the fear… I couldn't take it,” she said.
Last week, the Los Angeles Police Department's street racing task force, working alongside the Sheriff's Department and the California Highway Patrol, arrested “one of the largest organizers of street shootings in Southern California.” California,” according to a press release. Authorities alleged that Erick Romero Quintana, 20, who has more than 70,000 followers on social media, has coordinated events that have resulted in robberies, vehicle thefts and other violent crimes. His arrest, authorities said, was significant for all of Southern California.
Natalia Lopez and her son say they believe the Sheriff's Department is unfairly targeting their business, hoping to find evidence of crimes committed by others.
“I always invite them,” he said. “If you think we are doing something, come. The door is open”.
A few months ago, an angry customer accused shop employees of scratching his car's tires while he was changing a tire, brandishing a rifle while demanding a $1,000 refund, Natalia Lopez said. She called the Sheriff's Department, she said, but when two deputies showed up, they detained and questioned her son.
She said that before leaving, the officers told her, “We're going back because we know what you're doing here.”
Then there was the time agents tracked two stolen cars to the gas station next door, and a third that a customer brought to the store, Bernardo Lopez said. Officers wanted to know who drove the stolen car to his store. When he said he didn't know, they arrested him on suspicion of receiving stolen property, he said. He denied having anything to do with the stolen car and has not been charged with any crime.
“At this point,” he said, “I think it's personal.”
A new message appeared Wednesday outside Jeffrey's Tires. This one was not spray painted on the walls but written on a piece of white cardboard: “Dear Customers, Thank you to the Compton Sheriff's Department. harassing Jeffrey's Tires, we will be closed until further notice. Sorry for the inconvenience.”
