The Los Angeles Fire Department is investigating an incident captured on video in which firefighters at a fire station in Silver Lake beat and forcibly remove a transient who allegedly tried to break into the facility.
“The matter is definitely under investigation internally,” the LAFD’s Nicholas Prange told City News Service on Saturday. “The department is aware of the video and situation.”
The incident occurred a little before 2 p.m. Friday at Fire Station 6, at 326 N. Virgil Ave.
The video shows three firefighters forcibly removing the man from the station grounds, punching and kicking him as they move him off the premises.
Cristina Ruiz, who lives behind the fire station, told ABC7 that the man seen in the video — wearing a wig — is “a troublemaker.”
“Sometimes he throws bottles in the middle of the street. He’s a bad person. So bad. He always fights with other homeless, with our residents,” she told the station.
The firefighters involved in the incident have been placed on administrative duties until the investigation is complete, ABC7 reported.