Car, Crowbar, Knife Used in York Boulevard Altercation

A man and woman were arrested in Highland Park last week following an altercation in which a car, a crowbar and a knife were all used as weapons.

Marc Gradillas, 45, of Pico Rivera and Cathy Salazar, 45, of Lincoln Heights were both arrested at around 1 p.m. last Wednesday after they allegedly attempted to run over a local man near York Square Liquors on 6312 York Boulevard.

Neither Gradillas nor Salazar were charged for their crimes, according to LAPD Northeast Gang Unit Detective Rick Ortiz, as the district attorney deemed both to be acting in self defense.

Ortiz said Gradillas is believed to be affiliated with a gang based out the East Los Angeles area.

According to Ortiz, the altercation started over a verbal misunderstanding and quickly escalated.

"The victim was walking out of a liquor store in the area and he called for his friend, and the two suspects thought that he was yelling at them," Ortiz said. "They approached the guy and, of course, that turned into a physical fight. The male suspect pulled out a knife and cut the victim on the pinky finger."

The victim then ran to his nearby residence and returned with a crowbar, Ortiz said. The victim then told the suspects he was going to call the police, and went into a nearby phone-booth. At that point, Ortiz reported, the male and female got into their vehicle and threatened to ram it into the phone booth.

According to Ortiz's report, the suspects never followed through with the threats.

"That's when the calls started to come in," Ortiz said. "Officers were on the scene before the suspects could flee the scene."