Man may face prison after books tossed onto U.S. 101 during immigration policy protest

A Los Angeles man was charged with felony vandalism Monday after he allegedly threw books at cars on the freeway downtown during recent protests against President Trump’s immigration and deportation policies.

On Feb. 3, thousands of people marched through downtown L.A. as part of “A Day Without Immigrants,” a social media-driven nationwide boycott that called on immigrants to skip work, keep their children home from school and refrain from shopping.

When marchers crossed overpasses of U.S. 101, prosecutors say Martin Richard Torres, 42, climbed onto a freeway sign near Spring Street, vandalized it and threw two books at traffic below. Authorities said it wasn’t clear if he was a demonstrator but the incident occurred during the protest.

One of the books hit a vehicle, Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman said at a press conference announcing the felony charges.

Though the driver of the vehicle that was hit was uninjured and no crash was reported, Torres is being charged with a felony because of the risk his actions posed to others on the freeway, Hochman said, adding that the investigation is ongoing.

Had the vehicle swerved, it could have collided with other vehicles, “not only would there be property damage, but you have the chance of serious injury or potentially even death, depending on what’s going on,” Hochman said.

Torres is charged with one felony count of throwing an object at a vehicle or an occupant of the vehicle with intent to do great bodily injury and one felony count of vandalism of more than $400 in defacement with graffiti.

Hochman said the prosecution is meant to send a message.

“To all those who want to protest here in Los Angeles County, that if you want to do it lawfully, if you want to comply with the various laws and ordinances that are applicable to such protests, we will not only allow that to happen, we will protect to right to do it,” Hochman said. “However, for the people who basically want to use the protest as a cover to commit criminal activity, when people’s words or actions cross that line into criminal behavior, we will go after that criminal behavior,” Hochman said.

Torres’ bail is set at $755,000 and if convicted on all charges, Torres faces seven years and four months in prison.