Vandals Strike in 3 RTD Incidents : Gang Unit Probes Attacks on Buses

The Los Angeles Police Department anti-gang unit has been brought into an investigation of vandalism by youths who spray-painted graffiti on three Rapid Transit District buses in the San Fernando Valley over the weekend as frightened passengers looked on.

RTD bus passengers who witnessed attacks in Sherman Oaks and Van Nuys told police that they saw about 12 youths scrawling on the windshields, sides and doors of the buses Saturday afternoon, said Detective Ernie Guzman of the Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums (CRASH) unit. No injuries were reported.

Because of conflicting evidence, officials have not determined if the attacks were by gang members. But they say the incidents are unusual.

“As far as I know, this is the first type of vandalism done in broad daylight having this many juveniles,” Guzman said.

“We have graffiti attacks on our buses, but not of the magnitude of this one,” said RTD Transit Police Chief Jim Burgess. Most graffiti are scrawled by youths at bus stops near high schools or junior high schools in the inner-city areas, rarely out in the open or in “outlying areas like the Valley,” Burgess said.

Police arrested a 17-year-old North Hollywood youth on suspicion of vandalism after he was chased and caught by a driver of one of the buses. Police suspect that the attacks are gang-related because the youth identified some of the other vandals by nicknames that are similar to those used by gang members.

However, detectives have not determined if the youth is affiliated with a gang, Guzman said. “He had no tattoos and he appeared clean-cut,” Guzman said, and he was not wearing the traditional clothing of area gang members.

Police also are confounded by witnesses’ reports that the vandals were young black, white and Latino men. “It’s a little bit unusual to have that mix in a street gang,” he said. Words scrawled on the buses did not appear to consist of names of gangs, as is common for gang-related graffiti, Guzman said. “It looked more like just scribbling,” he said.

The first graffiti incident reported Saturday involved a freeway express bus traveling from Westwood to Van Nuys, said Greg Davy, an RTD spokesman. A group of about 12 youths spray-painted the bus and scratched the outer surface of the windows with a knife about 1:45 p.m. when it stopped at Van Nuys Boulevard and Valerio Street in Van Nuys, Davy said.

About 45 minutes later, youths attacked a bus at the busy intersection of Ventura and Sepulveda boulevards. When bus driver Ernest Scotti ran after one of the vandals, more youths jumped aboard the bus and scribbled on the inside windshield and walls, Davy said. He estimated that the attack did not last longer than 40 seconds.

A third incident occurred later in the afternoon. RTD officials do not know the exact location, Davy said, but believe it happened in Van Nuys.

RTD officials said the three incidents occurred within a few hours of each other and suspect that the same youths were involved. “We aren’t saying necessarily it was a gang. We’re saying it was a group of boys that came up to the buses, did their thing and left,” Davy said.

RTD spends about $2 million a year to stop graffiti, and this year created an anti-graffiti task force of three officers, transit chief Burgess said. The transit company plans to hire 36 more people later this month to clean graffiti, he said.