Enough is enough!

Disturbing news, Tazer Faithful. Please read this carefully.

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Police say movie attack is hate crime
RICHMOND: At least three people were seriously assaulted by a group of black men at the Century 16 Theater

By Karl Fischer
CONTRA COSTA TIMES

Richmond police determined Friday that at least three people attacked by a crowd of young black men at Century 16 Hilltop theater this month were victims of hate crimes.

Two victims were attacked Aug. 11 outside the theater, and one was assaulted inside, stomped by at least 30 men while the film "Step Up" continued to roll, Police Chief Chris Magnus said.

The theater staff failed to help any of the victims. In one case, a witness reported employees in the theater lobby laughing as they watched a crowd of about 10 men beat and kick a woman huddled on the sidewalk in front of the building.

If identified, some of the attackers could face felony assault charges, Magnus said.

"We're really getting a horrific picture of what happened up there that night," Magnus said. "We are now saying that some of the factors present indicate there was a potential hate crime."

But police have been unable to identify suspects, or even the victim huddled on the sidewalk, in part because of a failure on the part of patrol officers to do their jobs properly on the night of the incident, Magnus said. Officers failed to take one victim's report until his mother phoned later to complain. They routed another victim's report as "vandalism."

In the "vandalism" case, Magnus confirmed, a crowd of young black men in front of the theater smashed the window of the victim's car and tried to drag her out by her ponytail, while someone shouted, "Get the white bitch!"

Representatives from San Rafael-based Century Theatres did not return several phone messages.

The incident began about an hour into the movie, police said, during a scene dealing with interracial dating. A crowd of young black men seated in the back rows began shouting and throwing candy toward the front of the theater, mainly occupied by Latinos and Filipinos.

Philip Herrera, 23, stood up and asked them to stop pelting his girlfriend and mother. In response, several men hauled him out of his seat and beat him severely enough to cause a concussion, according to the victim and witnesses. Dozens of others joined in kicking him as he crawled up the aisle.

Although Herrera said he did not believe his beating was racially motivated, his mother thought it was. So did City Councilman John Marquez, who also suggested that ethnic animus on the part of the officers, who are black, influenced their response.

Herrera and his mother, Judy Martinez, told the Times last week that officers refused to enter the theater to look for suspects, refused to take a written report, refused to escort Martinez into the theater to look for her shoes and refused to escort the group to their car.

"This has been going on for years," said Aleta Martinez, Herrera's aunt. "I was born and raised in Richmond, and I've lived with harassment and racial discrimination my entire life. It's gotten worse and worse there."

Marquez said this week that he supported the department's follow-up actions, including the internal affairs investigation launched by Magnus into officer conduct during the attacks.

"The chief sent me an e-mail with all the steps that have been taken so far, and it sounds like everything he is doing is right on," Marquez said. "But there is still the police internal investigation into the officers' response, and I am waiting to see how that comes out."

Mayor Irma Anderson, who is black, skirted the race issue.

"Violence against anyone is totally unacceptable regardless of who the perpetrator is and who the victim is," she said. "It saddens me that there still exists challenges to building trust between the Police Department and the local community."

The victim who attackers tried to pull from her car, Rene, told the Times she drove to the theater in her pajamas about 11:30 p.m. to pick up her son, who attended the 9:55 p.m. showing. She said that when she arrived, she saw a large crowd in front of the theater, and several people beating the unidentified victim huddled there.

Rene asked the Times not to publish her full name because she is afraid.

She said she apparently drove too close to the beating, because the crowd turned on her car. Several of the men jumped on her car, kicking and pounding. They smashed her rear windshield and stole her purse.

When police arrived, the men were trying to drag Rene out of her car by her hair.

"(Police) told me to get the hell out of there," she said, "because it wasn't safe."

Rene has spent the past two weeks trying to file a damage claim with the theater to get the $5,000 worth of damage to her car repaired. The Police Department had better luck arranging a meeting with Century Theatre management this week.

"We went over some of our concerns and offered some ideas for avoiding problems," such as turning off movies at the first sign of a riot and keeping more than one security guard on duty after 11 p.m., Magnus said.

"They need to step up and be much more proactive. I don't even think it's adequate to say they'll keep more security on duty later in the evening," Magnus said. "I think it's a question of whether they have the training, support and equipment to deal with some of the crowds going in there."

Staff writer John Geluardi contributed to this article. Reach Karl Fischer at 510-262-2728 or kfischer@cctimes.com.

HOW TO HELP

Police ask anyone victimized in the Aug. 11 assaults at the Century 16 Hilltop theater, or who has information about them, to call Detective Sgt. Lee Hendrickson at 510-620-6616.

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TAZER SAYS: We're about to throw a couple haymakers now...

1) The perpetrators need to be identified, apprehended, and prosecuted. The value of calling the incidents "hate crimes" worries us less than that these were crimes of particular viciousness. Crooks need to be off the streets and examples must be made.

2) For that to happen, there needs to be massive cooperation between police, victims, witnesses, and the theater. Fear from victims and witnesses is natural, but unprofessional buffoonery from police and theater employees shouldn't be tolerated. If the allegations of negligence and dereliction are true, punishment should follow.

3) The theater personnel were probably outnumbered, but that shouldn't be an excuse for laughing it up at a violent crime in progress, let alone not picking up the phone and calling 911. About the only thing worse might be the misconduct of police officers who are supposed to be trained for just such a situation. However, we hope the charges are untrue and that people in a position to remedy those incidents acted properly. To us, that's just simple HUMANITY!

4) That said, we invite Chief Magnus to maintain all possible transparency for this case and keep the public informed. We appreciate his candor so far and hope it continues, no matter the results. On its face, this dilemma might seem harmful to RPD's image, but we suggest that undue secrecy would only make it worse. People need to have faith that the system works.

5) Council member Marquez: Keeping it fair and down the middle with a "wait and see" approach, and showing great responsiveness to a citizen's concern. You get a gold star from the Tazer!

6) Mayor Anderson: Absolutely right when she says that violence is unacceptable, regardless of race. However, we don't see any words of support for Chief Magnus. Another missed opportunity to demonstrate leadership by praising her relationship with her police chief, and just lamentations that she doesn't like the state of affairs between RPD and the community. Tsk tsk, no gold star for you.