LA restaurant owner from El Salvador helps police officers who were pepper-sprayed during ICE protests

COMPTON, Calif. (KCAL/KCBS) – A restaurant owner, who is an immigrant from El Salvador, stepped up to help both demonstrators and police officers who were injured in protests in Los Angeles.

Elizabeth Mendoza is the owner of La Ceiba Restaurante in Compton.

The restaurant stayed open during the protests, but Mendoza said a violent clash between demonstrators and law enforcement happened just feet away.

Mendoza said she was afraid for her life, saying it “felt like a war.”

Agitators were seen outside her restaurant doing donuts and setting cars on fire.

As an immigrant from El Salvador, Mendoza said she sympathizes with the protestors, who are protesting the ICE raids on immigrants in the Los Angeles area.

Mendoza said the ICE raids are affecting many of her longtime customers.

“My kids, my husband, we’re OK,” she said. “But I know a lot of people came, they don’t have papers. They don’t have anything. But they want to work.”

So, when protestors needed water, napkins or food, she handed it to them.

But as the situation escalated, Mendoza realized her business was the only one still open in the area.

Her friends and family urged her to close the restaurant and leave for her own safety. But Mendoza said something told her to stay.

“No, I can’t [close]. I need to help when the people need me,” she said through tears.

But Mendoza and her staff also stepped up to help law enforcement officers who were in need.

Surveillance video from the restaurant shows one sheriff’s deputy come in, fully armed. He was crouched over, suffering from what seemed to be a chemical irritant.

Seconds later, a few more deputies walked in needing help. One took off her gas mask and was visibly in tears.

“One of us got milk, put milk in her eyes and her face,” Mendoza recalled.

Mendoza and her employees escorted a few of the deputies into the restaurant’s walk-in freezer to cool them down.

The employees sat others down, giving them food and water, and began fanning them.

“Everybody worked to help the police,” Mendoza said.

When asked why she did it, Mendoza said it’s not about siding with one or the other. To her, both the protestors and the deputies are her beloved customers and part of the community.

“People like me. They work. For the community,” she said.

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