El Salvadorian restaurant staff praised for helping officers hurt in LA riots: Theyre humans

A Salvadorian restaurant owner helped cops who were hurt in the riots rocking Los Angeles, even though she sympathizes with some of the protesters — and footage of her actions is now going viral.“They’re humans,” eatery owner Elizabeth Mendoza told The Post of the injured officers she and her workers assisted as they sheltered in her Compton restaurant La Ceiba in the heat of the city’s riots Saturday.“And they were just doing their duty, trying to protect everyone around,” Mendoza said, explaining she didn’t think twice when the cops asked for help.Mendoza and some other local Hispanic workers said that while they agree with the demonstrators’ cause — migrants’ rights — violence and looting are no way to achieve anything.“Spray painting and all this damage, that’s not helping anybody,’’ said Pedro Perez, a worker at a nearby Boost Mobile that was damaged.“And right here, where they were spray painting, mainly all these people are all Hispanic owners.”“The whole point is to be united, and you guys are damaging your own people’s businesses.I just think it’s stupid,” he said.Mendoza said she was working at La Ceiba that afternoon as clashes across the city between police and demonstrators protesting ICE’s recent mass arrests of illegal immigrants grew increasingly violent.As a face-off grew particularly heated nearby, several sheriff’s deputies were caught in a cloud of tear gas and staggered into the restaurant and asked for help.Mendoza jumped into action and joined her staff, fanning down the cops and giving them milk to pour over their burning eyes — even letting one of the officers stand in the restaurant’s freezer to cool down.The scene — of Latin Americans readily helping police hurt trying to contain protests for migrants — quickly gained attention online, with many praising Mendoza and her staff for their integrity and humanity.Mendoza, a US citizen who immigrated to the US 30 years ago, said she suppor...