“Machete” star and Trejo’s Tacos entrepreneur Danny Trejo engaged in a brawl during a Fourth of July celebration in Sunland-Tujunga.
The fight broke out Thursday during a parade hosted by a local Rotary Club, where the 80-year-old action star was a guest. Trejo was driving a white, convertible low-rider in the parade but stopped his vehicle after someone threw a water balloon at his car, according to video shared on social media.
The “From Dusk Till Dawn” actor stepped out of his vehicle and confronted a group of attendees on the sidewalk. After someone else threw another water balloon at the Latino icon‘s head, he exchanged punches with a person wearing black shorts, a sleeveless shirt and a hat. Trejo fell on his back off the sidewalk. The person also can be seen hitting Trejo’s friend Mario Castillo, who was left bloodied after the incident, according to video published by KTTV Fox 11.
Video showed Trejo getting back to his feet, grabbing a folding chair and throwing it into the brawling crowd. TMZ published video from another perspective, showing another person holding back Trejo from the crowd.
“[Trejo] pushed women out of the way to get to those guys,” Sunland-Tujunga resident James Spishak told The Times. “There were kids there. It could’ve gotten really ugly. It would’ve never happened if he stayed in the car.”
Spishak said Trejo slapped him when he ran over to the crowd and tried to break up the fight. “I love Danny Trejo, I think he’s a cool dude, but he needs to know when to say ‘no,’” Spishak said.
Representatives for Trejo did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment. The Sunland/Tujunga/Shadow Hills Rotary Club, which hosted the Fourth of July celebration, also did not immediately respond.
“Everybody was holding him back,” said Sunland-Tujunga resident Arnie Abramyan, who shared parts of the brawl on Instagram. “There were a lot of people between him and the people who threw the water balloon. He was just upset. He was yelling, screaming, mad and was trying to get to the guy who threw the water balloon.”
Abramyan, president of the Sunland-Tujunga Chamber of Commerce, told The Times that Trejo was participating in the neighborhood’s annual Fourth of July parade for the first time. Abramyan, whose company Arnieville is one of the sponsors of the event, said there was a designated area on the parade route where people could use Super Soakers and water balloons, but Trejo wasn’t at that part of the route when he was hit with a water balloon.
Los Angeles police were responding to a different incident nearby and came to the site of the brawl after it happened, Abramyan said. He added that officers told him Trejo did not want to press any charges. Abramyan said he and the rest of the Chamber of Commerce had an emergency meeting after the parade to figure out how to apologize to Trejo.
“I doubt he’ll participate [in the parade] again, but we definitely want to make amends and show him love and respect,” Abramyan said.
