- A Santa Monica resident shared a video online of looters raiding an Amazon delivery van during protests over the death of George Floyd in Los Angeles on Sunday.
- Resident Kyli Singh told Business Insider that she saw a small group of looters throwing rocks at an Amazon Prime truck before breaking inside the van and taking packages. The driver was not in the van at the time, she said.
- A spokesperson for Amazon said that it is adjusting routes and scaling back on typical delivery operations in affected areas to protect the safety of its drivers.
- But some say they are fearful of making deliveries and have canceled shifts after seeing this video, according to a recent Bloomberg report.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
A video online shows looters raiding an Amazon delivery van during protests over the death of George Floyd in Los Angeles on Sunday.
Santa Monica resident and former journalist Kyli Singh filmed the incident from her balcony in Santa Monica and shared it on Twitter over the weekend.
—kylisingh (@kylisingh) May 31, 2020
In a message to Business Insider, Singh said that she witnessed the looting take place on 5th Street between Broadway and Santa Monica Boulevard on Sunday.
“I started to see looters parking their cars on the street, running to shops, and then running back with items like Vans shoes boxes,” she said.
“I caught footage of a small group of looters throwing rocks at an Amazon Prime truck, and broke inside. While this is happening, you can hear on video a woman yelling at the top of her lungs, “what the f*ck are you doing?” she added.
Singh said that what started out as five looters quickly turned into a larger group of people who were grabbing boxes from the truck and running back to their cars with them.
“Thankfully, the driver was not in the vehicle at the time and there were no other passengers,” she said, adding that the driver came to the scene after the looting and spoke with the police before sweeping the glass off their seat and driving the van away.
Singh said that while she doesn’t agree with looting or any other forms of violence, she understands where the anger comes from. “I understand that I will never know the pain or struggle black people face in America. I stand with #BlackLivesMatter, and am determined to keep speaking out to bring meaningful change that is long overdue,’ she said.
In a statement to Business Insider, a spokesperson for Amazon confirmed that the driver is safe.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and have adjusted routes or scaled back typical delivery operations in the affected areas to ensure the safety of our teams,” the spokesperson said.
Amazon said that if it feels that an area for delivery is unsafe, it will cancel the delivery block.
In recent conversations with Bloomberg, several Amazon drivers said that they feared for their safety, however.
“I feel like I have a target on my back,” an Amazon delivery driver in Chicago told Bloomberg’s Spencer Soper. “I usually get about $100 for a four-hour shift, and that’s just not worth getting my car trashed,” they said.
Another Amazon driver in Washington said he canceled all his shifts this week after seeing the video of the looting in Santa Monica.
“You’re out there in a vest with a car full of packages, so you feel like a target,” he told Bloomberg. “That video scared a lot of people.”
