Man In Downtown Hot Dog Rampage Surrenders To Police

LOS ANGELES, CA — A man turned himself in Tuesday night after police released video footage of him allegedly beating two women while a large Downtown crowd looked on.

Symar resident Arka Oroojian, 30, turned himself in Tuesday night hours after cellphone video footage of the incident was splashed across local media stations. He surrendered at the Los Angeles Police Department's Central Station and was booked on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, according to the LAPD. He was being held on $90,000.

Police continue to investigate the incident amid conflicting claims about what really happened. Before Oroojian turned himself in, a witness came forward to police to dispute the narrative officers were working with. On Twitter, the LAPD had posted the video asking for help identifying the suspect, tweeting, "This guy brutally punched two women at a hotdog stand on Jan. 26 in the area of 6th & Spring. Someone knows him and we would like to be one of those people."

"There's two sides to every story and those two women started that," a witness, identified only as Stewart, told CBS2.

RELATED: Enraged By $6 Hot Dog, Mans Beats Women While LA Crowd Watches

He said the women called the man derogatory names before the scuffle began.

"They started punching on him first," Stewart said. "Once they punched on him first, jumping on his back, then he defended himself by counterpunching these women and things like that. So the video caught only the second glimpse of the story."

At the end of the video, the man ran off and both women ended up in the hospital.

One of the women told NBC4 the assailant was arguing with a vendor over the $6 cost of a hot dog. When the confrontation escalated, another vendor offered the man a free hot dog, but the man continued arguing, prompting the two women to intervene.

"Me and my friend said something like, `Just leave,"' the unidentified woman told the station.

The man can then be seen on the cellphone video slugging both women. They try to retaliate, prompting the man to punch them again, knocking both of them to the ground as the crowd gathered in the area reacts, but does not intervene.

The father of one of the women posted the video on Facebook and expressed outrage that nobody tried to help them.

"For a crowd of men to sit back and not only watch, but film two girls get beat on by a 6 (foot) 250 lb. guy. My family and I are disgusted to say the least," the man wrote.

He also said once the fight ended and the women were on the ground, "NOBODY even tried to help them up or ask if they were OK. Instead, the people standing around laughed and cheered as if the sight of two small girls getting beat on by a huge 250 lb. man was a sight of entertainment. One of the people watching was a bouncer of the bar this occurred in front of."

Anyone with information was asked to call Detective Gonzalez at (213) 996-1851, or after hours, (213) 486-6606.

City News Service and Patch Staffer Paige Austin contributed to this report.