Outrage, protest follow beating of immigrants

Special to the PWW

This article was reprinted from the April 6, 1996 issue of the People's Weekly World. For subscription information see below. All rights reserved - may be used with PWW credits.

LOS ANGELES - Outrage is welling up here over the brutal beating by two Riverside sheriff's deputies of an unresisting Mexican man and woman after the officers stopped them on a highway near Pomona 20 miles east of Los Angeles.

The beating was videotaped by a local TV news crew aboard a helicopter hovering overhead throughout the incident. The footage was broadcast on the evening news. It recalled the videotaped beating of Rodney King by Los Angeles police officers in 1991.

Rudy Montalvo, a spokesperson for the Los Angeles County AFL-CIO, told the World, "These were undocumented Mexican workers. This is Rodney King all over again. We in the labor movement are indignant."

He said labor and community groups had previously scheduled a news conference for 10 a.m. Saturday, April 6 at La Placida Church to speak out against "immigrant- bashing." It will be followed by a march to the offices of the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) in downtown L.A. "I'm sure this beating incident will be commented on at our news conference," he said.

Members of the Mexican American Political Association picketed the federal building in L.A., chanting "We want justice" in English and Spanish. They carried placards announcing an Oct. 12 march on Washington which they hope will bring a million Latino protesters to the nation's capital.

Ann Bradley, a spokesperson for the Southern California American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), told the World, "We are outraged by this beating. We are demanding a major investigation. These officers are out of control."

She said the ACLU has compiled statistics that in 700 cases of high speed police pursuits, 40 percent of the motorists were physically assaulted and injured by officers after they were apprehended. "We don't want another study that will be forgotten. We want these brutal practices stopped," she said.

The beating followed a high speed chase of the battered pickup in which 21 workers, believed to be undocumented Mexican workers, were riding. A deputy, holding his baton two-handed like a baseball bat, was videotaped clubbing the driver on the back and shoulders even as the driver fell over a guard rail and was face down on the ground.

When the woman got out of the cab, the same deputy beat her on the back with his billy club, then grabbed her by the hair and pulled her to the ground. At least one other deputy struck her with his baton.

Neither the woman nor the man resisted or made any attempt to get away. The other passengers leaped from the pickup and ran but were later rounded up by police and taken to an INS center for questioning.

The driver, identified as Andrian Flores Martinez, 26, suffered a fractured elbow and bruises. He was taken to Riverside General Hospital and faces several charges, including evading arrest. The woman, identified as Leticia Gonzalez-Gonzalez, 33, suffered numerous bruises but did not require immediate medical attention.

The Riverside County Sheriff's Department immediately began an internal investigation and placed the two deputies on paid administrative leave. They were identified as Donald Franklin, a 20 year veteran, and Tracy Watson, who has been on the force five years.

''I'm not going to stand up here and say that there was no force used, because you would laugh me out of the room,'' Sgt. Mark Lohman, a sheriff's spokesman, told reporters. ''We saw it, we saw the same videotape that everyone's seen, and we're embarrassed.''

In Mexico City, the Ministry of Foreign Relations released the text of a letter sent to the U.S. State Department expressing "indignation" over the "flagrant violation of human rights" of Mexican citizens. The letter charged that the incident was proof of "abuse of authority" that requires "effective actions to eradicate discriminatory attitudes which lead to acts of institutional violence."

White House Press Secretary Mike McCurry said in Washington, ''We are asking the Justice Department to keep us apprised of any effort they make to monitor the situation,'' and to consider possible civil rights implications.