Around June 9, 2025, as anti-immigration enforcement protests spread through downtown Los Angeles, a video (archived) circulated online purportedly showing Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers destroying their own cruiser.
In the footage, officers were seen attempting to smash the windshield of a marked LAPD cruiser. Text added to it read: "OFFICERS DESTROYING THEIR OWN VEHICLES?? DON'T LET THIS GO OVER YOUR HEAD."
The clip continued to circulate as the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office announced charges against more than a dozen people for assaulting peace officers, grand theft and vandalism in downtown Los Angeles in connection with anti-immigration enforcement protests.
Videos capturing the incident from numerous angles circulated on X (archived), Facebook (archived), Threads (archived), TikTok (archived) and Reddit (archived). One Facebook user said of the incident (archived): "LAPD destroying their own vehicles. They gotta make it look like rioters are responsible. I mean it's okay. The government will replace the car."
In short, the footage of the LAPD officers destroying their cruiser was authentic and was not generated by artificial intelligence (AI). The Instagram clip showed officers on the corner of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue and Spring Street on
However, while it was true that officers smashed a windscreen on a marked cruiser, the claim circulating online lacked context. According to the AXN News livestream, officers left several vehicles unattended while policing protesters further down the street. The cruiser's windshield was intact before officers left the intersection, but it was broken by the time they returned. Footage (archived) from RMG News, a network of journalists/videographers in LA, showed a hooded person stomping on the window of the cruiser on June 8 — identified by the identical license plate number, 1251352. Though we could not identify the person who caused the initial damage to establish whether they were connected to the LAPD, footage in the social media posts showed officers smashing an already damaged windscreen.
We reached out to the LAPD for any context it could provide on the incident. We also reached out to RMG News and Brandy Carlos, who posted the footage, to confirm the recording date and time. We await replies to our queries.
Snopes established that the AXN News livestream and Instagram clip showed the same incident by identifying identical passing cars. At 00:09 in the Instagram video, black and blue cars passed between the damaged cruiser and the person recording the footage, who was standing on the northeastern corner of the intersection.
The same black and blue vehicles could be seen waiting at the intersection at 4:27:18 in the AXN News livestream.
(AXN News/Instagram user @_kylah_is_/Snopes Illustration)
AXN News' livestream ran for almost six hours and showed what happened before and after the cruiser windscreen was damaged.
Officers prepared to return to their vehicles around 11 minutes later, with the livestream reporter remarking that there was "a small crowd" at the intersection of North Spring Street and Cesar E. Chavez Avenue.
As officers returned to their vehicles, they fired what appeared to be less-lethal weapons at an unseen crowd. "Less-lethal" is a term used by police to describe weapons that can cause pain and discomfort and are used to disperse crowds.
When officers returned to their vehicles at 4:25:00, the formerly undamaged windscreen on the cruiser seen in the Instagram video was shattered and dented.
(AXN News/Snopes Illustration)
While the officers were kicking and hitting the damaged windscreen, the AXN News cameraman said: "They're trying to kick it out so they can drive away." He also posited that a couple of the police cars had their tires slashed, before adding: "So they broke out the glass of a bunch of cop cars while they were over there" (the second "they" likely referring to police officers who had just returned from down the street).
Snopes did not independently verify what the officers in the clip intended to do by further destroying the smashed windshield.
We have reported extensively on the spread of misinformation during the 2025 Los Angeles protests.