Street Vending: A Way of Life--and Death

Jose Morales knew the dangers of making his living on the busy street corners of Los Angeles, hawking his sweet-smelling roses, oranges and peanuts to manic motorists just to pay the bills.

Every day, the 58-year-old Sylmar resident breathed the soot of the streets as he limped on his cane between cars to reach his customers. Like other immigrant vendedores, he ignored the occasional traffic tickets for trespassing on the median strip and accepted the robbery and accident risks as part of the job.

But late Friday, Morales became the third vendor in six years to be killed by a hit-and-run motorist--and the second at the intersection of Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Sherman Way in North Hollywood. The impact of the accident lifted the veteran fruit-and-flower vendor out of his shoes and carried him 70 feet into a light pole.

Police who rushed to the accident site found Morales’ body under a blanket of rose petals. “It was a surreal sight,” said Sgt. Dale Turner of the LAPD’s Valley Traffic Division.

The driver of the late-model van, Rubin Iniguez, 21, of North Hollywood, was caught by Los Angeles police after he and two passengers abandoned the vehicle and ran from the scene, according to authorities. Iniguez was arrested on suspicion of felony manslaughter, police said.

Police said Iniguez was heading south on Laurel Canyon Boulevard when he reportedly ran a yellow light and lost control of his vehicle. The van veered onto the center divider, striking Morales, who died at the scene. The driver was treated for chest and head injuries at the Medical Center of North Hollywood before being arrested.

On Saturday, beneath a bent utility pole, petals, plastic wrappers and flowerless rose stems still littered the central Valley intersection as police--and other vendors still working the busy street corner--called Morales’ death an accident waiting to happen.

“It’s a powder keg just waiting to go off,” said Turner. “These vendors don’t fully understand just how dangerous it is to be out there on the center median of a busy thoroughfare.”

Turner said Morales had been issued several tickets and warned many times about trespassing. Vendors represent the biggest source of complaints from local motorists, who say their darting in and out of traffic impedes traffic flow, according to police.

Officer Bill Mulvihill said he has moved scores of vendors from busy intersections only to see them return a short while later. “We have warned them, ‘People run lights. They speed.’ But you can only warn them so many times.”

Several vendors on Saturday called such risks just facts of life.

“Sure this is dangerous. I’ve almost been hit several times,” said 17-year-old Alfonzo Dominguez, who stood at the same intersection selling oranges and peanuts from a grocery cart as cars whizzed past, inches away.

“This is the only work I could find. If you don’t have a real job, you sell oranges. There’s nothing else you can do.”

Several vendors called the job a first economic steppingstone for the most recent immigrants from Mexico and Central America. “It’s easy work to find,” said Rosa Perez, 25, a recent arrival from Mexico, as she sold oranges on a nearby 405 Freeway exit ramp.

She moved to the ramp after finding the center medians too dangerous. “This is safer here,” Perez said. “I’m just going to do this until I can find something better.”

Not Morales. Regular customers said he had worked the intersection for several years, using the restroom at the nearby tire center, where he would buy cans of soft drink on the hottest summer days.

Tire center workers said they often bought roses for their wives--not out of romance but because they felt sorry for Morales.

At less than a dollar profit for each sale, the money came hard. “It’s a hell of a tough way to make a living,” said Robert Manzanero. “We used to watch him stand out there all day long for just $20. It was blood money.”