Video: Mercedes Driver Slaps Unhoused Autistic Child For Touching Car

LOS ANGELES – Video showing a Mercedes-Benz driver slapping an unhoused 10-year-old autistic boy for touching his car's emblem this month triggered widespread outrage along with community efforts to help the child's family.

The outpouring of aid has been swift and overwhelming since the video went viral on Instagram Tuesday.

The video shows a middle-aged man getting out of his black Mercedes on Laurel Canyon Boulevard in Pacoima and charging toward a bus stop where the little boy sits with his sister. In Spanish, she apologizes for her brother, explaining he is autistic. She tries to shield her brother, but the man reaches out and slaps the child on the cheek. Then he walks back to his car, stopping to check on its emblem as bystanders shout at him.

According to KTLA, the footage shows the moments after Alfredo Morales, 10, and his sister crossed the street at Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Osbourne Street where they catch a bus every day to get food for their family, which lives in a broken van at a nearby park. That's when the boy's fingers grazed the car's emblem.

According to his family, Alfredo doesn't mean any harm when he touches objects to explore his environment.

The driver reportedly yelled at the children, made a U-turn and approached them at the bus stop.

The traumatic incident was followed by something the family never expected.

A stranger created a GoFundMe account for them, a local rapper offered to get their van fixed, and housing authorities reached out to help find them shelter, KTLA reported.

As of Friday night, the GoFundMe donations exceeded $56,000.

"If anyone can help this family in need of help..." the GoFundMe page reads. "Alfredo was the victim of a grown man slapping him at the bus stop. He has severe Autism, and his family is in desperate need of help. Any help would be greatly appreciated by them. They are currently homeless, and any help will hopefully help them get into some housing."

Alex Manza helped establish the fundraiser for the family.

"I don't know the family," Manzo Told KTLA.

But the video angered him and others in the community, and they decided to step up, he said.

"It got us mad," he added. "They need a lot of resources that can help out."

Many of the donors said they have loved ones with autism and were shocked to see Alfredo treated so cruely.

"As the parent of a 10-year old on the spectrum, my heart breaks for Alfredo and his family. I wish you all nothing but the best to come! - From one Autism family to another," wrote one donor.

Another donor wrote, "As a sister that has a little brother with Autism, I live to protect and keep my brother safe! It boils my blood to see such a coward act! May god bless this family and get them the justice they deserve!"

The Morales family filed a police report about the battery. International news outlets picked up the story, and the Mercedes driver was quickly identified online.

The Daily Mail reported that the 2023 S-class sedan was purchased in April for about $146,000.

According to KTLA, Los Angeles Sheriff's Department deputies this week surrounded the man's home following death threats made against him and his family in the aftermath of the viral video.