PERRIS – A Fontana woman selling floral leis and flowers at the Perris High School graduation last month was arrested after an incident with deputies. Riverside County Sheriff’s Department officials said that approximately 15 street vendors without the required City of Perris permits were cited at the High School graduation which took place on Tuesday, June 6, 2017. One of the vendors contacted with Juanita Mendez-Modrano, whose arrest was captured on the video shared via Twitter.
“Unlike the other vendors, Ms. Mendez-Medrano refused to cooperate as necessary to allow our officer to issue her a citation,” Riverside County Sheriff’s Department officials said. “She refused to provide her name, and attempted to walk away. Our officer repeatedly told Ms. Mendez-Medrano why she was being detained, and that she could not go without being issued a citation.” Mendez-Medrano, according to authorities attempted to leave, provided them with numerous fake names and even at some points, pushed the officer away. By doing this, Mendez-Medrano not only violated the city ordinance of selling without a permit, but also obstructed justice. They also claim that she was only held by her arm to prevent her to leave and the physical struggle was a result of her resistance and the officers efforts to gain her cooperation.
Mendez-Modrano was clearly upset, at some point urinating on herself during the struggle. She was medically cleared and was subsequently booked into the Southwest Detention Center in the City of Temecula.The identity of Mendez-Medrano was not known until she was fingerprinted for jail booking.
The video has circulated through social media, where the woman screamed out in Spanish that she was only trying to make a honest living.She also said that they were hurting her. Authorities said that the video does not show the full scope of the incident. “Unfortunately, the video did not capture the other vendors cooperating with the citation process, nor did it capture our officer’s repeated efforts to convince Ms. Mendez-Medrano to do the same,” Riverside County Sheriff’s Officials said. “As with most police events, the short, publicly produced video does not have the full context or content of the incident seen on the video. Additionally, rarely in police use of force situations is there agreement from all parties involved as to the appropriateness, efficacy or necessity of its use.”
