Las Vegas food truck employees sent to hospital, attacked by men they refused to serve

EDITOR’S NOTE: A previous version of this story indicated that the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to a request for information. However, the department did provide FOX5 information to request documents related to the incident.

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - A group of belligerent men went on the attack at a popular food truck in downtown Las Vegas after they were refused service. Five employees ended up in the hospital and the owner of the business is demanding justice.

The Taqueria Casa del Sabor food truck is parked outside a tire business at Bonanza and Las Vegas Boulevard every night, sometimes there are lines of cars circling the parking lot waiting to get served. Sunday night, employees refused service to a group of belligerent men. What happened next was all caught on camera. FOX5 is not sharing the video because of the level of violence.

In the same parking lot where the attack happened, people gathered Monday night to show their support for those who were injured.

“There were two cars, two vehicles that pull up to the drive-thru. We tried to take orders and they started getting too aggressive to our people and we refuse to serve them,” explained Taqueria Casa del Sabor Owner Ivan Valenzuela. That’s when all hell broke loose.

“You had women getting hit... My guy here getting put in an ambulance. My guy right here see his face?” Valenzuela explained to FOX5 with employees at his side. Two employees were taken by ambulance to the hospital, three were taken by private car.

“The cops they arrive, they hold two guys for like maybe 20 minutes, they let go most of the people. The only guy I believe was arrested because he was being aggressive with the cops,” Valenzuela revealed.

Street food vendors rallied just last week as the Nevada State Senate heard a bill that would extend protections to them. State Senator Fabian Donate, the sponsor of Senate Bill 92, comes from a family of food vendors and says it is an important part of the heritage is Hispanic community.

“Recently there has been reports that street food vendors have been harassed and we have to adjust our regulations to better serve these community members,” Donate argued.

Employees of the Taqueria Casa del Sabor food truck are now missing shifts worried the attackers will come back and shoot up the place as they threatened. Valenzuela is urging Metro to act now to prevent further violence.

“You going to wait until somebody die so there can be consequences? We don’t want to wait to that point. We want justice and we want these people to go to jail,” Valenzuela shared.

According to jail logs, there was one felony arrest connected to the incident. Records show Jason Wiggins is facing charges of attempted larceny, five counts of battery and resisting arrest. As of Tuesday night, Wiggins was no longer in custody. Wiggins has been court-ordered to stay away from the business as a condition of his release.

Wiggins is scheduled to appear in court April 3, records show.

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