Investigators are looking for a man who repeatedly punched a Wokcano employee in downtown Los Angeles and attacked the restaurant employee when he felt his order was taking too long, Los Angeles police said Thursday.
LAPD has appealed for the public’s help in finding the man, who was seen on security footage earlier this week yelling at a pregnant female employee before another employee at the Asian restaurant asked him to calm down. The man then began punching the male employee repeatedly, causing injuries that police described as minor.
The attack happened Monday just after 1 p.m. at a Wokcano location near the 800 block of West 7th Street.
Two days after the brutal attack, the victim said he was left with persistent pain and pain all over his body.
“My whole chest, my arms, my legs, my whole back of my neck to the point where… I can’t really move that much,” he said. “I can’t turn.”
Oxlaj said he wanted to press charges against the man, saying the incident should never have happened in the first place.
“It’s not fair,” Oxlaj said. ‘I hope he ends up behind bars. I hope he doesn’t do this to anyone else, because what he did to me shouldn’t have happened – shouldn’t have happened. He shouldn’t have expressed his anger just for ordering food.”
LAPD released an image from surveillance video Thursday that shows the attacker. He is described by police as between 25 and 30 years old, has a mustache, is 6 feet tall and weighs approximately 180 to 200 pounds.
Oxlaj, who has worked at the restaurant for two years, said the angry customer continued the attack – to the point where it seemed he had no intention of stopping.
“He didn’t want to let me go at all,” Oxlaj said. “I felt like he just wanted to drag me out of the restaurant and finish me outside.”
His mother, Isabel Hernandez, said she feared what could have happened if the attacker had not stopped. She also said he returned to the restaurant more than once that day, looking for her son and asking other people where he was.
‘My son is going back to work, right? What if he waits? What if he’s watching?’ she said in Spanish. “I am very scared and I beg the authorities: arrest him to feel safer or issue a restraining order so he cannot come near my son.”
When the mother and son spoke out on Wednesday, they said the attacker could do the same to others if police do not track him down and arrest him. They reported the incident to the police on Monday shortly after the incident.
LAPD has not released any further details as the investigation continues.
Anyone who recognizes the attacker or has other information that could lead to his arrest is urged to reach LAPD Detective Ramirez at 213-996-1248. After hours or on weekends, please call 877-LAPD-247. Those who wish to remain anonymous can submit tips by calling LA Regional Crime Stoppers at 800-222-TIPS or visiting lacrimestoppers.org.
