Article Originally Published Here.
Allied Universal has confirmed to WEHOonline that the Security Ambassador seen sucker-punching a homeless man at West Hollywood Park on February 15 is no longer employed by the company. The full statement here: “Allied Universal is dedicated to helping keep the community of West Hollywood safe,” the statement read. “We can confirm that the security professional involved in the incident is no longer employed by Allied Universal.”
He’s fired.
Original story published February 24, 2026. Updated February 25, 2026.
A video posted to Nextdoor eight days ago showed a West Hollywood Security Ambassador sucker-punching a homeless man at West Hollywood Park — hitting him from behind in the head while the man had no idea it was coming. The footage spread fast. KTLA picked it up. Residents went sideways. Allied Universal pulled the ambassador from the site and said an investigation was underway.
Monday night was the first time the city’s Public Safety Commission had Allied Universal in the room since it happened.
Allied Universal had a full January activity report ready for the Public Safety Commission Monday night. Numbers, stats, comparisons to the prior year. That’s what Alan Gonzalez and Valerie Chavez were officially there to deliver.
But everyone in that room knew what the real conversation was going to be.
Commissioner Tod Hallman wasted no time getting to it.
“What can you tell us about the investigation into the park incident?”
“The end of the investigation has been finalized,” Gonzalez said. “The ambassador has been removed from West Hollywood.”
Removed from West Hollywood. Not fired. Not terminated. We noticed. Nobody followed up to ask for clarification.
He Came From Block by Block
Chair Bill Harrison asked how long the ambassador had actually been in the program. Turns out he wasn’t a new Allied hire — he came over from Block by Block when Allied took over the contract in October and was brought on as a direct Allied employee at that point. Full onboarding, new hire orientation, all the program-specific training Allied requires.
Commissioner Stephen Post wanted to know if that training covered de-escalation and working with unhoused individuals specifically. Chavez said yes to both. And if a physical altercation breaks out, she said, the protocol is clear — call the Sheriff’s deputies.
That’s what the training says. That’s what the protocol says.
Commissioner Catherine Eng asked if the ambassador had any prior disciplinary history. Chavez said she couldn’t disclose that. Gonzalez added that the worker had been a strong performer going back through his Block by Block years and into the Allied period.
“To that point in time, he was a pretty exemplary ambassador,” Gonzalez said. “It was out of character, and it was a disappointment. We had no indication we had a potential problem.”
Commissioner Catherine Eng asked what many have been asking — what happened before the punch? Gonzalez said Allied provided additional footage to the city showing the lead-up but didn’t describe what it shows.
“There is one specific video that is probably the most widely circulated. There are other videos that do show some of the timeline up until that video starts to give some context. None of it exonerates our team. We made mistakes. We did not take appropriate steps to de-escalate, and that’s entirely squarely on us.”
Fired or Just Reassigned?
One question that never got a clean answer Monday night: what exactly does “removed from West Hollywood” mean? Gonzalez never said the ambassador was fired. He never said terminated. The specific phrasing — removed from West Hollywood — leaves open the possibility that the worker is simply deployed to another Allied Universal account somewhere else in Los Angeles.
WEHOonline reached out to Community Safety Director Danny Rivas to clarify. Rivas referred the question to Allied Universal Communications Director Kari Garcia, who confirmed that the details of the investigation are kept confidential as a personnel matter. Garcia said she would look into what additional information could be shared. We’ll update this story when we hear back.
