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A video showing a man dumping a Sonoma County flower vendor’s bouquets into a creek along Sonoma Highway in Santa Rosa has drawn more than 3 million views, fueling outrage over his actions and scrutiny of how police handled the chaotic confrontation that followed.
The Nov. 26 encounter — involving a Mexican immigrant vendor, her 11-year-old son, a panhandler claiming the corner as “his spot,” the vendor’s coworker and bystanders who intervened — has tapped into broader concerns about safety for street vendors, rising hostility toward Latino workers and the way law enforcement responds when vulnerable communities call for help.
He said it was ‘his spot’
Karla Luna, 27, arrived shortly before 10:30 a.m. at the central median just east of Farmers Lane, a location she and other vendors have frequented for years. Luna, who lives in Los Angeles and has spent the last three winters in Sonoma County to sell flowers, said drivers are often more willing to buy a $20 bouquet than hand over cash.
When Luna and her son stepped onto the median that Wednesday morning, a man was already there with a cardboard sign asking for “$500 for rent.” Luna said he quickly became agitated and told her the space was his. Luna, who speaks little English, tried to keep working but said her son grew frightened as the man’s yelling escalated.
She began recording.
In Luna’s video, the white man moves quickly, grabbing the buckets holding Luna’s yellow, orange and red bouquets. He jogs across the eastbound lanes, carrying the flowers to the opposite side of the road, one at a time, as cars pass by. When he returns for the last bucket, a driver — Cecilia Ramirez of Calistoga — pulls over.
“What’s your (expletive) problem?” Ramirez shouts as she approaches, later telling The Press Democrat that she stopped because she saw Luna’s son hiding behind his mother in fear. She then dialed 911.
Another man, a Latino vendor who had dropped Luna off, also returned to the scene. He grabbed one of the flower cases the man had moved and brought it back to the median.
That’s when the situation escalated again. The panhandler kicked one of the buckets, tipping it over and spilling water. He kicked it a second time, sending the bouquets into traffic.
“So you feel comfortable asking for (expletive) money? She is (expletive) selling flowers. Go back to work,” Ramirez yelled at the man.
Then he picked up the yellow flowers, stuffed as many as he could into a container, ran across the road and hurled them over the railing into the Santa Rosa Creek below.
Moments later, two other Latino men who had seen the confrontation rushed in, punching and shoving the man to the ground. They told the man several times to “get out of here,” but he dropped his bag and raised his fists. For several seconds, the three men pressed toward the white man as he squared up toward them, but none of them threw additional punches.
Police sirens sounded in the distance.
Police arrive — and criticism follows
The confrontation broke off when Santa Rosa police arrived, and officers spoke separately with the people involved. Sgt. Patricia Seffens said the panhandler reported he had been punched in the head and asked for an ambulance. Officers reviewed the video on Luna’s phone and told both sides they could pursue charges: Luna for the destroyed flowers and the man for the alleged battery.
No one chose to file a complaint. Officers cleared the scene after about 40 minutes and directed everyone to leave the median, which California law prohibits pedestrians from standing on.
The Press Democrat was unable to locate or speak with the man seen in the video.
But a short exchange between one officer and Luna — caught in the video — quickly became the focus of online frustration. In it, the officer asks Luna, “Why do you think it’s OK to have your kid in the middle of a road?”
The question struck many viewers as insensitive given Luna’s distress.
“How can the community feel safe calling for help when the officer chose to question the victim instead of addressing the actual problem?” one commenter wrote on Instagram. Another asked: “If the victims had been white instead of the aggressor, would he have had the same energy?”
Seffens, in a written statement, said the officer’s question was driven solely by “serious safety concerns” about a child standing in a busy highway median.
“The officers’ actions were guided by this concern, as well as their responsibility to address the original call for service,” she said.
When asked why officers did not inquire about Luna’s wellbeing, Seffens said there were no indications she had been physically assaulted.
“At no point did the cell phone video or operator, woman, or any of the bystanders indicate that the flower vendor was involved in a physical altercation or was injured,” Seffens wrote.
Ramirez, who served as an impromptu translator at the scene, said she felt the one officer spoke to Luna with a dismissive tone. “They were just trying to blame her being there with her son,” she said.
Other officers, she said, appeared neutral and focused on de-escalating.
In a statement Thursday, Santa Rosa Police Chief John Cregan said initial information suggests the officers “acted promptly and in line with their responsibilities.” Following public criticism, he said, the department and its independent auditor have launched a review of the officers’ actions, including whether policies were followed and whether arrests were warranted. Cregan will also bring the incident to his community advisory team for feedback.
Continuing a shift
For Luna, the man’s aggression left a deeper unease than just the financial loss — though losing about 40 bouquets meant losing most of her earnings for the day. Her coworker did not charge her for the destroyed flowers, and friends have since helped her set up a fundraiser to replace her income.
Luna said she has noticed more hostility toward immigrant vendors and Latino workers, which she believes is connected to harsher anti-immigrant rhetoric and increased immigration enforcement operations under President Donald Trump’s administration.
As of late August, the North Bay Rapid Response Network — operated by the Santa Rosa-based nonprofit North Bay Organizing Project to track immigration enforcement activity and inform immigrants of their rights — has received 3,181 calls in 2025 reporting suspected U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity. Many were false alarms, but the volume is dramatically higher than the roughly 300 calls the network logged in all of 2024.
She sees the confrontation as part of that shift.
Still, Luna said, she keeps working. After police cleared the scene that morning, she and her son gathered the few flowers they could recover and her coworker drove them to another intersection to try to salvage the day.
Selling flowers is how she supports her family, she said, and the confrontation won’t stop her from returning to work.