15 Jul 2005, 10:03 pm
Quote:
JULIANA BARBASSA
Associated Press
FRESNO, Calif. - Police apparently came prepared for gang warfare when they sent three squad cars and a helicopter in response to a 911 call. Instead, they found an 11-year-old girl who had thrown a rock to defend herself as neighborhood boys pelted her with water balloons.
Little Maribel Cuevas says she didn't mean to hurt the boy - who admitted to officers that he started the fight and was quickly released from the hospital after getting his head stitched up.
But police insist she's a criminal - she's being prosecuted on a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon. "We responded. We determined a felony assault had taken place and the officers took the actions that were necessary," said Fresno Police Sgt. Anthony Martinez.
Her family says Maribel was simply defending herself when 9-year-old Elijah Vang and several other boys pummeled her with water balloons outside her home in a poor Fresno neighborhood in April. They say she quickly sought help and tried to apologize to the boy and his family. The Vangs have since moved away.
"She's 11 ... they're treating her like she's a violent parole offender," said Richard Beshwate, Jr., Maribel's lawyer.
Maribel, who speaks limited English, spent five days in juvenile hall with just one half-hour visit from her parents. She then spent about 30 days under house arrest, forced to wear a GPS ankle bracelet to monitor her whereabouts. She's due in court Aug. 3.
Officers denied that their response was influenced by the setting - a low-income, largely minority neighborhood - or language difficulties - Maribel's family speaks limited English, and the responding don't speak Spanish.
With help from their church, the family hired Beshwate to represent Maribel at her upcoming trial. The lawyer says prosecutors aren't interested in a deal. Assistant Fresno County District Attorney Bob Ellis said he couldn't comment on the case because it involves children.
Maribel's family said the soft-spoken girl, who turned 11 in March, remains terrified - she's a good student who struggles sometimes because English is her second language, but in a neighborhood where kids grow up fast, she keeps close to home, helping her mother take care of her four younger siblings. Maribel attends school with the boy, and says she's been taunted by him in the past.
She says was playing on the sidewalk with her 6-year-old brother and other younger children on April 29, when the boys rode by on their bikes. They started teasing her, calling her names and hitting her with water balloons, she said, holding her 1-year-old brother in her lap in her family's modest living room, where a couch and dining table share space with a crib and a bed.
When the boys refused to leave, Maribel threw a rock at them, hitting Elijah.
The aunt of one of Maribel's playmates saw the boy's forehead was cut, got him a towel to stop the bleeding and called 911, the family said.
Maribel ran to the boy's house, two blocks from her own, to tell his parents she was sorry, she said.
Police responded to the call ready to tackle a hardened criminal.
The officers "grabbed me from behind, by my shirt" the girl said in Spanish. "I was so scared. ... I didn't know what they were doing."
Maribel panicked. The officers had the slight girl down on the ground, and one of them put his knee to her back to restrain her, her mother said in Spanish.
Guadalupe Cuevas couldn't communicate with the officers, because she doesn't speak English, and was pushed away when she tried to reach her daughter.
Maribel was crying, the police report said, but Officer Christopher Green, who handcuffed her, wrote, "We were able to get Cuevas into the back of the patrol vehicle."
Guadalupe Cuevas said didn't understand what was happening.
"The officer was just saying, 'I don't care, I don't care,'" Guadalupe Cuevas said in Spanish. "He told my nephew he didn't speak his kind of English."
The police report said Green read Maribel her Miranda rights twice, in English. The report also lists the girl's emotional state as "apologetic" and "hysterical."
Maribel's mother and her father, Martin, were able to see their daughter for half an hour the day after the incident. The girl's wrists were bruised, her mother said, and she was scared.
Maribel was kept in juvenile hall without seeing her parents again for five nights. When she was released, she had to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet that kept her under house arrest for about three more weeks, leaving school early to make it home before the 3 p.m. curfew.
This is a case where the police department "overreacted and won't back down," Beshwate said. "I don't know if they don't like Spanish speakers, if it's racism, or if they were having a bad day. But how can you defend this kind of behavior?"
Associated Press
FRESNO, Calif. - Police apparently came prepared for gang warfare when they sent three squad cars and a helicopter in response to a 911 call. Instead, they found an 11-year-old girl who had thrown a rock to defend herself as neighborhood boys pelted her with water balloons.
Little Maribel Cuevas says she didn't mean to hurt the boy - who admitted to officers that he started the fight and was quickly released from the hospital after getting his head stitched up.
But police insist she's a criminal - she's being prosecuted on a felony charge of assault with a deadly weapon. "We responded. We determined a felony assault had taken place and the officers took the actions that were necessary," said Fresno Police Sgt. Anthony Martinez.
Her family says Maribel was simply defending herself when 9-year-old Elijah Vang and several other boys pummeled her with water balloons outside her home in a poor Fresno neighborhood in April. They say she quickly sought help and tried to apologize to the boy and his family. The Vangs have since moved away.
"She's 11 ... they're treating her like she's a violent parole offender," said Richard Beshwate, Jr., Maribel's lawyer.
Maribel, who speaks limited English, spent five days in juvenile hall with just one half-hour visit from her parents. She then spent about 30 days under house arrest, forced to wear a GPS ankle bracelet to monitor her whereabouts. She's due in court Aug. 3.
Officers denied that their response was influenced by the setting - a low-income, largely minority neighborhood - or language difficulties - Maribel's family speaks limited English, and the responding don't speak Spanish.
With help from their church, the family hired Beshwate to represent Maribel at her upcoming trial. The lawyer says prosecutors aren't interested in a deal. Assistant Fresno County District Attorney Bob Ellis said he couldn't comment on the case because it involves children.
Maribel's family said the soft-spoken girl, who turned 11 in March, remains terrified - she's a good student who struggles sometimes because English is her second language, but in a neighborhood where kids grow up fast, she keeps close to home, helping her mother take care of her four younger siblings. Maribel attends school with the boy, and says she's been taunted by him in the past.
She says was playing on the sidewalk with her 6-year-old brother and other younger children on April 29, when the boys rode by on their bikes. They started teasing her, calling her names and hitting her with water balloons, she said, holding her 1-year-old brother in her lap in her family's modest living room, where a couch and dining table share space with a crib and a bed.
When the boys refused to leave, Maribel threw a rock at them, hitting Elijah.
The aunt of one of Maribel's playmates saw the boy's forehead was cut, got him a towel to stop the bleeding and called 911, the family said.
Maribel ran to the boy's house, two blocks from her own, to tell his parents she was sorry, she said.
Police responded to the call ready to tackle a hardened criminal.
The officers "grabbed me from behind, by my shirt" the girl said in Spanish. "I was so scared. ... I didn't know what they were doing."
Maribel panicked. The officers had the slight girl down on the ground, and one of them put his knee to her back to restrain her, her mother said in Spanish.
Guadalupe Cuevas couldn't communicate with the officers, because she doesn't speak English, and was pushed away when she tried to reach her daughter.
Maribel was crying, the police report said, but Officer Christopher Green, who handcuffed her, wrote, "We were able to get Cuevas into the back of the patrol vehicle."
Guadalupe Cuevas said didn't understand what was happening.
"The officer was just saying, 'I don't care, I don't care,'" Guadalupe Cuevas said in Spanish. "He told my nephew he didn't speak his kind of English."
The police report said Green read Maribel her Miranda rights twice, in English. The report also lists the girl's emotional state as "apologetic" and "hysterical."
Maribel's mother and her father, Martin, were able to see their daughter for half an hour the day after the incident. The girl's wrists were bruised, her mother said, and she was scared.
Maribel was kept in juvenile hall without seeing her parents again for five nights. When she was released, she had to wear an electronic monitoring bracelet that kept her under house arrest for about three more weeks, leaving school early to make it home before the 3 p.m. curfew.
This is a case where the police department "overreacted and won't back down," Beshwate said. "I don't know if they don't like Spanish speakers, if it's racism, or if they were having a bad day. But how can you defend this kind of behavior?"
I'm going to restrain the overwhelming urge to use profanity in this post as I'm feeling so much anger I'm almost at the point I could throw rocks at the next police officer I see. I know she's not an Aspie but what she's experiencing is what a lot of us have so many times, although not in such a drastic manner.
You know, I really shouldn't be shocked about this as authority figures usually take the side of the bully anyway and take the "blame the victim" approach. What suprises me is how blatent the police force was in doing it. And of course, I'm sure if she had not been a poor, non-English speaking, hispanic child, she wouldn't be under house arrest for throwing a rock at six.... not one, not two, but six boys throwing water balloons at her. For god's sake, what the heck is wrong with this society?
Last edited by nirrti_1 on 21 Jul 2005, 3:15 am, edited 3 times in total.
15 Jul 2005, 10:10 pm
15 Jul 2005, 10:22 pm
15 Jul 2005, 10:40 pm
15 Jul 2005, 10:45 pm
Fogman
Veteran
Joined: 19 Jun 2005
Age: 57
Gender: Male
Posts: 3,986
Location: Frå Nord Dakota til Vermont
16 Jul 2005, 1:22 am
16 Jul 2005, 1:39 am
16 Jul 2005, 1:47 am
16 Jul 2005, 1:59 am
16 Jul 2005, 2:40 am
Fogman wrote:
How thankfull I am of the fact that I don't in a state as draconianally petty as Kalifornia.
And ruled under the Iron Fist of the Caliban.
Once that girl gets her trial, she'll walk. My brother once had an incident that was way more involved. When my brother was in middle school, my brother had always had problems with this one wannabe gang member black kid. It started out that this kid was stealing my brother's school supplies, cheating off of my brother's work, and picking on him. My brother was bigger than this kid and his friends and charismatic, but he was alone at a new school.
The bullying eventually started to get physical my parents questioned my brother about this his story didn't change. My parents originally thought the stories of bullying without the principal doing anything were far fetched, and under normal circumstances it should have been. When my dad went to see the principal, he went dressed in camoflauge and an NRA hat. He talked to the receptionist in the office, who natturally, told him that she was in a meeting. When my dad kept insisting that he get to see an administrator, the principal caved and met with him. My dad explained the situation with my brother and this other kid and his friends. The principal, who was a black lady, told him that she could not take action against this kid "due to his socio-economic status, he is unable to identify with his peers". My dad, in disbelief, said "I don't care what color his skin is, this kis is nothing but a thug. If you won't do anything about it, then I'm giving my kid the green light to defend himself by all means necessary". She said, "you can't do that, it is in vuiolation of the educational code". My dad said, "watch me". That was the end of that conversation.
Well, the kids eventually started oicking on my brother again. This time the ringleader that my dad confronted the principal about, pushed my brother over one of his friends who was on his hands and knees behind my brother. My brother got up and beat the living crap out of the kid. My brother had the kid on the ground and did not stop until a teacher physically pulled him off.
My dad rushed over from work wearing his fvorite camoflauge fatigues (they were his work clothes) to confront the principal. My dad wanted to press assault charges against the kid and the principal wanted to press assault and battery charges against my brother without taking any disiplinary action against the other kid (the kid my brother he beat up was in the nurse's office during all this). My dad argued that my brother cannot be disiplined for self defense despite what the educational code says because the penal code supercedes the educational code. My dad then the exact chapter and subtitle that says my brother had the right to use deadly force to defend himself if necessary and that he would not allow my brother to be susoended unless the other kid was suspended. The principal would not agree to this, so my dad dismissed my brother from the porincipal's office and sent him back to class. My dad then proceeded to state that the laws he quoted were grounds for a very big lawsuit if any action was taken against my brother. My dad has given this legal advice to many parents; and they always have success with it. I just looked up the kid's (now an adult) various court records. All he has to show for his life is a variety of really stupid traffic offenses and a under age DUI. My brother, during the same time frame, earned his Eagle Scout Rank, graduated high school, earned his EMT certification and worked as an ambulance driver, and is now a full time fireman. The fire deoartment learned abut the fight in his background check, and apparently they agreed the kid was a thug too.
The moral of the story, you do have the right to defend yoursef with physical and deadly force in California, regardess of age and be immune to prosecution. That kid in the news article will probably be rich shorly. I'll have to get the exact legal quote from my dad sometime.
16 Jul 2005, 6:14 am
16 Jul 2005, 8:12 am
16 Jul 2005, 10:25 am
That's Horrible. 
16 Jul 2005, 10:45 am
16 Jul 2005, 10:59 am
16 Jul 2005, 12:25 pm
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