[dropcap size=big]E[/dropcap]agle Rock residents are mobilizing after a video went viral yesterday afternoon that captured a woman’s racist rant at a CVS on Colorado Boulevard and Figueroa Street.
The video shows a woman in the midst of a violent tirade in which she repeats the n-word multiple times. As she walks out of the CVS, she turns around again to express further threatening sentiments, including “I would kill a n***** but the law says I can’t kill the n******. If the law didn’t say that I couldn’t kill the n****** they’d all be dead.” At the end of the video, she gestures to her car and says, “Here is my license plate number.”
The incident happened on Tuesday afternoon at 4:30 PM. Highland Park resident Renée Saldaña was shopping in CVS when she began hearing a raised voice from within the store, seemingly unprompted. “It seemed so random and out of nowhere,” Saldaña told L.A. Taco. “At first she sounded like a frustrated parent scolding a child, all I could hear was, ‘That’s enough! I’ve had it up to here with you!’”
Saldaña recounted there being about at least a dozen other patrons and employees in CVS when the woman started heading towards the front entrance “shouting about Black people and lynching and calling the cops.” She added, “People slowly started walking out aisles and it was so confusing because it was unclear who she was shouting at or what prompted it.” It wasn’t until afterward that Saldaña and others recognized that the woman’s racist remarks were towards a Black woman, who at this point had begun recording the rant.
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“I also remember these two older ladies who seemed so frightened and kept saying how she had driven erratically into the parking lot,” Saldaña said. The last thing she saw was the woman entering her car and speeding out of the parking lot, driving the wrong way down Colorado Boulevard.
Local residents have identified her as Heather Patton who resides in Mount Washington, an affluent neighborhood in the northeast L.A. hills.
At the time of the incident, Saldaña did not witness any CVS team members de-escalating the situation nor taking any action after the woman left the premises.
When asked for a statement on Wednesday evening, the team members who were on their shift at CVS had no knowledge of Tuesday afternoon’s incident.
The video is jarring to a community and neighborhood that is considered diverse in Northeast Los Angeles. In Eagle Rock, 40.3% of the population identify as Latino, 29.8 percent as White, 23.9 percent as Asian, 1.9 percent as Black, and 4.1 percent as Other.
L.A. Taco also received an anonymous tip from a Pasadena resident regarding a similar incident with Patton, where she allegedly provoked a cashier of Asian descent at a Gelson’s in La Cañada Flintridge and is now banned by management from returning.
Within a few hours after the video went live, the Eagle Rock community sought justice and action. Local residents have identified her as Heather Patton who resides in Mount Washington, an affluent neighborhood in the northeast L.A. hills. Another resident in the area @inform.the.people posted to Instagram a tip from Tony Toscano, who shared publicly that he is neighbors with Patton and her husband Lloyd Andrew Sigler, and he has a restraining order against them.
L.A. Taco also received an anonymous tip from a Pasadena resident regarding a similar incident with Patton, where she allegedly provoked a cashier of Asian descent at a Gelson’s in La Cañada Flintridge and is now banned by management from returning. “She got up to the counter and started calling the cashier names, told him to get out of the country. The manager came back up and told her he’d call the police if she didn’t leave...screamed all the way to her car in the parking lot,” the resident recounted.
By the end of Wednesday evening, the video from Eagle Rock’s CVS had been shared rapidly online by public figures such as Shaun King, whose Facebook post alone has over 5,000 shares since the time of its posting. Community members hope that the widespread nature of this video will result in tangible action or a deeper investigation from the Los Angeles Police Department.
Update on 9/27/19 at 10:30 AM:
After calling LAPD, L.A. Taco learned that there was a "hate incident report filed." The case has been passed on to detectives who could consider further action.
Shortly after videos of the hate speech surfaced online, users have discovered an Instagram account that is allegedly Patton's. On this account, @heatherlynnpatton published Stories with her perspective on the incident and what followed afterward.
Update on 9/30/19 at 10:30 AM
The Instagram account that is reported to belong to the woman from the video, @heatherlynnpatton, published a series of disturbing screenshots that showed DMs exchanged between her and users who wrote in support of her actions and statements. In one of the DMs published by Patton, she writes "I am part of a small klan group in my town who is protecting me."
As of today, her original Instagram looks to have been deleted, with a fake account popping up since. These following screenshots were taken before this new Instagram account was created.
The Southern Poverty Law Center has been able to confirm up to 83 hate groups in California, including chapters of some groups existing in Los Angeles.
L.A. Taco is investigating the veracity of the “klan group” that Patton mentions in her direct message. We will post updates accordingly.
