MARTINEZ — A resident whose car tires were slashed in the downtown area last week by a person caught on video believes her car was targeted for her visible support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
Sydney Chinchilla, 22, said she also discovered body and windshield damage to her 2017 Hyundai Accent on Saturday, after parking it on Castro Street in the downtown area as she went to work at a hair salon. The car had two bumper stickers and two cardboard signs inside that indicated her support for the Black Lives Matter movement.
“I stand by my opinions, even though it got my car messed up,” she said by phone Monday afternoon. “It was a direct attack on the movement and not me.”
Martinez police Lt. Mike Estanol said police are investigating the vandalism. However, proving a person’s motivation without further audio, video or other clues could prove difficult, he added.
“I’m not sure [prosecutors] would file based on the video alone,” Estanol said. “It would just be very difficult to prove” a hate crime.
The incident came amid heightened tension in the small East Bay town, which has seen a series of confrontations around the Black Lives Matter movement and a mural painted downtown in recent weeks.
Estanol said detectives have looked at the security video from Luigi’s Deli and Market in the 500 block of Main Street, just around the corner from where Chinchilla parked. The video shows a man in a long-sleeve orange shirt and cargo shots puncturing the two front tires around 8:50 a.m. on July 11. Chinchilla used her cell phone to record the security footage and shared it with this news organization.
The rest of the damage to the car, which Chinchilla said she believes happened in a separate incident on the same day, left the Hyundai looking “like somebody smashed it with a shovel or something,” she said. A community fundraiser generated more than $1,000, enough for Chinchilla to fix the tires.
The attack happened a day before a downtown Black Lives Matter rally meant to show community support after the recent incidents. White supremacists were rumored to be planning a counterprotest, but did not show in any notable numbers.
Chinchilla said the two bumper-stickers on the car read, “Resist” and the other, “Once Upon a Time God Was a Woman.” The two cardboard signs inside the car had red-marker lettering and read, “Defund the Police,” and “White Silence is Violence.”
Martinez, a city of fewer than 40,000 people, has gained national recognition as the town wrestles with issues that have emerged nationally over racism and police violence. In June, racist fliers were distributed in the downtown area. Two residents were arrested in July and charged with defacing a permitted Black Lives Matter mural; an unpermitted “White Lives Matter” was painted on a different city street.
“I can only speak from my own experience as a Filipino person of color and 26 years of working here,” Estanol said. “I’ve never felt this in my town. I’ve always known it to be quite a loving community, and I’ve never felt not welcomed.”
Video by Sydney Chinchilla. CLICK HERE if you’re having trouble viewing media on a mobile device.
