A Los Angeles councilor has been filmed blaming Toyota for the rising catalytic converter thefts plaguing the city as he opposes a motion to hold criminals accountable.
Nithya Raman, a member of the city council since 2020, blamed Toyota, accusing the company of making their cars so “easy to steal.”
The video, which was shot in 2023, has drawn criticism as residents accuse LA Democrats of failing to crack down on thieves as car thefts continue to rise.
In the video, actor and General Hospital star Johnny Wactor is shot dead Saturday as he interrupted thieves who broke into his car while trying to steal a catalytic converter. He was only 37.
In 2023, almost 8,000 catalytic converter parts were stolen in one year, a staggering 728 percent increase compared to 2018.
In an effort to crack down on theft, the LA City Council passed an 8-4 motion making it illegal to own a loose catalytic converter unless you have valid documentation.
Another viral video has surfaced showing Los Angeles City Council Member Nithya Raman blaming Toyota for the rising catalytic converter thefts plaguing the city – while opposing a motion to hold criminals accountable
This comes as the latest victim, actor and General Hospital star Johnny Wactor, was shot dead in LA on Saturday when he was confronted by thieves who broke into his car while trying to steal a catalytic converter.
But Raman opposed the motion and blamed the car company Toyota, arguing that they should not make their cars so ‘easy to steal’.
“In this case, I think one of the things that infuriates me is that we have a company – whatever, Toyota – that makes the Prius, that essentially has a device on their cars that is super easy to remove. It’s basically the value of a MacBook, right?’ Raman said at the 2023 Council meeting.
“That’s put in a place that’s incredibly easy to access in your car, and all the costs of the thefts are given to us instead of them [Toyota] having to make a car that is actually not that easy to steal,” she continued.
Fellow Democrat Eunises Hernandez agreed, saying the ban on owning a catalytic converter was “racist.”
“Criminalizing the mere possession of a catalytic converter is the wrong way to go, I think, because we know which communities will be criminalized the most by this,” Hernandez said.
“This makes it a misdemeanor, carries a $1,000 fine and can serve up to six months in jail.”
‘Even a short detention of a few days can destabilize a person’s life forever, leading to additional consequences that he or she must bear until he or she can get deportation, if they can get it… I don’t agree with create more opportunities to criminalize our communities,” Hernandez continued.
According to a KTLA report, police officers responded to the area of Pico Boulevard and Hope Street around 3:25 a.m.
About 600,000 catalytic converters are stolen every year. Most cars are equipped with one inverter, but cars with a dual exhaust system require two. Larger vehicles such as SUVs and trucks may have more than two.
According to the New York Times, stolen catalytic converters are passed through “middlemen, smelters and refineries in the United States and abroad.” They can be stolen in a minute and cost about $1,000 to replace.
LA has seen a sharp increase in car thefts since the Covid-19 pandemic – with thefts increasing every year since 2019.
In 2023, there were more than 25,000 car thefts in the city, a staggering 64 percent increase compared to pre-pandemic figures.
The LAPD reported Friday that the city’s 2024 homicide increase continued to decline in late April and as of April 27 was only 4.2 percent higher than the homicide rate reported at this point in 2023. NBC Los Angeles reported.
The last time the department updated robbery statistics, in late March 2024, thefts rose 9.5 percent, according to ABC-7.
Wactor, who appeared in 164 episodes of the soap opera from 2020 to 2022, was leaving his part-time job at a rooftop bar with a female coworker near West Pico Boulevard and South Hope Street around 3:25 a.m. Saturday when he saw the three men , believing he was being towed.
Police said one of three men, all wearing masks, shot Wactor before fleeing in a separate vehicle.
Paramedics arrived on the scene shortly afterwards and took him to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The masked suspects are still on the run and have yet to be identified or described.
Wactor’s mother Scarlett told TMZ that her son saw three men trying to steal his car’s catalytic converter
Scarlett Wactor, Johnny’s mother, said her son didn’t try to fight them or even stop them from stealing, but they shot him anyway and escaped.
Johnny’s younger brother Grant confirmed to DailyMail.com that Johnny was shot in the chest when he encountered the suspects trying to steal the catalytic converter from his truck.
He said his brother and his coworker had to park about two blocks from the restaurant, so they walked to their car after finishing their shift.
Grant said they were raised as “Southern gentlemen,” so he wasn’t surprised when his older brother walked his female colleague to her car.
“We’re Southern, born and raised, and we would never let a woman walk to their car alone.”