Driver Sprayed by Insecticide; 2 Held
Two part-time state agriculture employees have been arrested for squirting a motorist in the face with a toxic insecticide used to kill the Oriental fruit fly, police said.
The victim, a 41-year-old Burbank woman whose name was not released, complained of blurred vision, a burning skin sensation and a numbing around her mouth, Sgt. Don Goldberg said.
The woman told police she was sprayed with the insecticide--identified as the highly toxic chemical Dibrom 14--by a passenger in a state Food and Agriculture truck.
The truck had first followed dangerously close behind her as she entered a Burbank intersection, and then pulled into opposing lanes of traffic alongside her car and sprayed her, Goldberg said.
The truck sped away, but based on the description the woman gave, the two men were arrested nearby.
Arrested were Mario Jarquin, 18, of North Hollywood, the driver, and Walter Rowland, 30, of Van Nuys, believed to be the passenger who wielded the nozzle to squirt the insecticide.
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