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Mammoth Lakes, CA
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008
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Recent act of small town violence rattles, rallies local community |
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Friday, 16 November 2007 |
Commentary by Stacey Powells
Mammoth Times Staff Writer
 Whoever thought that a piece of wood with four wheels could be evidence in an “assault with a deadly weapon” case? A skateboard, though not the one pictured, may have been used as a weapon in the recent assault on KMMT's Darrell Johnson.MAMMOTH TIMES PHOTO/SUSAN MORNING
As the story goes, Johnson and some friends were crossing Minaret Road in front of a restaurant in the Village when three young men on skateboards who were coming down the road, fell off of their skateboards. Some members of Johnson's group allegedly guffawed at the fallen riders. Johnson noticed a car coming down the hill and told the three men to get out of the way, at which point they allegedly started spouting racial epithets at Johnson. One of the skateboarders, Tony Saucedo, was heard getting downright nasty in his racial remarks towards Johnson and when Johnson started to walk away, not wanting to get involved in an altercation with the three individuals, they allegedly ran at him, attacking him with their skateboards, taking him down in the process.
In an interview with Johnson, the Mammoth Times asked him why he thought this went down the way it did.
“I think they were more embarrassed than anything else because they fell in front of a group of people that started laughing,” Johnson said. “I believed that fueled their anger and I was their target.”
MT: Has this ever happened to you before?
DJ: I've never been jumped in my life.
MT: Who witnessed the incident?
DJ: A couple of friends of mine, Chris, Jason Turk..Micah, my roommate Anthony...
MT: What were they doing when this happened?
DJ: They were talking with some girls...Chris was with me when the guy with the tattoos ran up on me and started swinging his skateboard. I tried to defend myself and then his other two friends came over and started swinging their skateboards at me and I fell to the ground...I looked up and saw a pair of legs, but they were kicking and swinging at me while I was still on the ground. The last thing I remember is being hit in the back of the head with a skateboard then covering my head and lying there before I faded out. I woke up once in the ambulance and then in the hospital.
MT: Do you remember any of them saying anything to you?
DJ: Yes, after I told them they should get out of the road, one said, “Get the F*@!K away from me.” I said to them that I was just trying to help them stay alive and started walking back and that's when one of the dudes, the one with the tattoos yelled, “F___K-you N____R.. You want some of this, N___R!”
MT: Do you think this was a hate crime?
DJ: Personally, I don't think so,, but that's what everyone else thinks because of what they were shouting out before they attacked me.
MT: What do you think?
DJ: I don't think it's right to attack anyone with any objects and whatever reason...they were upset enough to attack me...I think people should learn restraint.
MT: You've lived here for four months now. How does this effect your view of Mammoth?
DJ: The support I've gotten from the town, the phone calls...I really feel that Mammoth Lakes is not the kind of place these guys have made it out to be.
MT: Are you going to stay?
DJ: Yes, but I want to be a local now and not have to wait 30 years, and I want to thank everyone who's been supportive. From what I've been told, this kind of behavior doesn't happen here and if the whole community says that then I know this kind of behavior won't be tolerated.
One of the Mammoth Lakes Police Department Officers on the scene was Doug Hornbeck and in the nearly 10 years he's been with the MLPD, he's never come across any type of “Hate Crime” incident. “When we arrived at the scene, Johnson was down in a fetal position with his hands over his head,” Hornbeck said. “There was a group of people around him and as soon as they saw us, they came up and started to tell us what happened.”
The last time a “Hate Crime” hit our area was back in the early days of 2005 as reported by Lara Kirkner and Christina Reed in the Feb. 3-9, 2005 issue of the Mammoth Times. The FBI was brought in to investigate, “a hate crime directed at the Native American community in Bishop. Several original copies of a letter, describing criminal activities to be perpetrated on young children, were discovered on Jan. 23, near the Bishop Tribal Head Start building.” The letter threatened to commit a crime that would result in death or great bodily injury to another person and that threat was taken seriously.
The question then becomes, was this recent incident in fact, a true “hate crime?” It will be up to the District Attorney's office to muddle through the law, decipher the language and prove beyond reasonable doubt that a “Hate Crime” was perpetrated. Did the suspect, Anthony Saucedo, who was charged with “Assault with a Deadly Weapon with a Hate Crime Enhancement,” utter the words because that's how he feels about black America or did he spout off in the “heat of the moment?” Can “Hate Crime” charges be brought against Saucedo based on what he thinks? What about the other suspect, Kevin Malburg, who is also Saucedo's roommate...their residential status in Town being relatively unknown. Will he ultimately be brought in on a hate crime charge because he also assaulted Johnson?
On the other hand, how do you not charge someone who allegedly attacked another man who was doing nothing except warning the individuals that a car was coming down the street and that they should move out of the way? If it is proven that the assault was unprovoked, how does that play into the whole “Hate Crime” theory? If Johnson's skin had been a different color, would it have made any difference in the way the assault occurred, or would it have occurred in the first place?
A “Hate Crime” is defined as, “a criminal act committed, in whole or in part, because of one or more of the following actual or perceived characteristics of the victim: Disability, Gender, Nationality, Race or ethnicity, Religion, Sexual Orientation and Association with a person or group with one or more of these, whether actual or perceived.
Hate in any form is terrible and according to recent statistics, “Hate Crimes” in America are on the rise. Statistics taken from the U.S. Department of Justice—Uniform Crime Report Web site state that in 2005, 12,417 law enforcement agencies submitted hate crime data to the UCR Program. Of those, 2,037 law enforcement agencies reported the occurrence of 7,163 hate crime incidents. The 7,160 single-bias incidents involved 8,373 offenses, 8,795 victims and 6,800 offenders.
Bias is a human condition and American history is rife with prejudice against groups and individuals because of their race, religion, disability, sexual orientation or other differences.
The 20th century saw major progress in outlawing discrimination but stereotypes and unequal treatment persist. When bias motivates an unlawful act, it is considered a hate crime. Race and religion inspire most hate crimes, but hate today wears many faces. Bias incidents (eruptions of hate where no crime is committed) also tear communities apart.
Law enforcement officials acknowledge that many hate crimes—similar to rape and family violence crimes—go unreported, with many victims reluctant to go to the police, and some police agencies are not fully trained in recognizing or investigating hate crimes.
The good news is that all over the country people are fighting hate crime and standing up to promote tolerance and inclusion. More often than not, when hate flares up, good people rise up against it—often in greater numbers and with stronger voices—much like the rippling effect of what happened in Mammoth after the Darrell Johnson incident.
What is going to happen to the suspects in the Johnson incident remains to be seen but the fact is that the DA's office has their work cut out for them. Johnson was assaulted with a deadly weapon, in this case a few skateboards, but whether or not a “Hate Crime” turns out to be a punishable offense in this case will be up to the legal system.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 26 November 2007 )
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