Details at this time are sketchy, but officials from the UC Davis Police Department are confirming that a crime is being investigated as a hate crime.
According to Campus Crime Alert Bulletin, the incident occurred on Sunday, May 12 at 8:10 p.m. The victim and a witness were walking along Levee Road near Brooks Road when a burgundy Jeep SUV “pulled up alongside of them.”
According to the report, “The suspects started shouting sexual orientation bias slurs at them.”
At this point the two suspects got out of the vehicle and began to assault the victim repeatedly. They then got back into their vehicle and drove away on Brooks Road.
The suspects are both described as white male adults in their late teens or early 20s. They are estimated to be 5 feet, 10 inches and 150 pounds with medium build, light complexion, brown eyes and short straight brown hair.
UC Davis Spokesperson Andy Fell confirmed that the incident is being investigated as a hate crime.
He said, “The victim and a witness were on Levee Road (which is on the west side of campus across Highway 113). Both are male. Only one of them, the victim, was physically assaulted.”
There was not an immediate report as to how serious the injuries were or the condition of the victim. However the incident is being investigation as a violattion of Penal Code section 243(d) – battery with serious bodily injury.
The incident comes a little over two months after the brutal beating of Mikey Partida, a 31-year-old Davis resident and 2000 graduate of Davis High, who works as an employee at the Davis Food Co-op.
20-year-old Clayton Garzon has been arrested and booked in the Yolo County Jail, charged with assault causing great bodily injury; committing a hate crime; assault with a deadly weapon; stalking; committing a felony while on release from custody; and inflicting great bodily injury during the commission of a felony.
While his bail in the case was raised to $520,000, he was released after his family posted bail. His preliminary hearing began last week and is expected to continue for another week.
Many in the community gathered for a vigil to decry the incident in which Mr. Garzon allegedly savagely beat Mr. Partida while yelling the homophobic slur, the f-word, depicting it as a hate crime and vowing to fight against hatred in the community.
Mr. Garzon, represented by Sacramento Attorney Linda Parisi, has argued through his attorney that the incident was fueled by alcohol and anger management issues rather than a propensity for hatred toward gays. They have argued against the assault as a hate crime.
In documents filed, Ms. Parisi argued, “Mr. Garzon has many family members and friends that are members of the LGTB community.”
A letter from Mr. Garzon’s uncle, who is gay, states, “I can unequivocally say that Clayton has been uncommonly supportive of me being gay.”
A neighbor, who is also gay, stated, “I do not believe that Clay’s actions in the morning of March 10 were driven by hate for gay people.”
Ms. Parisi said that, while the beating was “a very tragic event,” the use of slurs was a “sad commentary on today’s youth, but not necessarily an expression of hate.”
Supervising Deputy District Attorney Garrett Hamilton filed a motion to raise bail, arguing “changed circumstances.” He argued, “The initial setting of bail failed to include the fact that the defendant’s acts constitute a ‘hate crime.’ “
Ms. Parisi told reporters following the late March arraignment and bail setting hearing that she was disappointed with the increase in bail and the additional levels of supervision imposed.
“I don’t believe he’s a young man who engaged in a hate crime,” she said.
Mr. Partida had attended a party at his cousin’s apartment and apparently left his keys there and returned to retrieve them, “when a man began kicking and beating him while yelling homophobic slurs.”
Mr. Partida was walking with a group then went back alone for his keys. Before that point, the attacker was already yelling slurs at him, according to Mr. Partida’s cousin, Vanessa Turner.
“He just continued, getting closer and closer, and then he just punched me,” Mr. Partida explained.
“The slur used begins with the letter ‘F’ and is a nasty term for homosexuals. Partida said the attacker was saying it over and over again while beating him,” News 10 reported.
“Pretty loud and proud about it,” Mr. Partida said. “He just kept fighting me and fighting me until I blacked out. And then I came to and was here,” Mr. Partida said from his hospital bed.
Ms. Turner told News 10 that, after the attack, the attacker knocked on the door to brag about what he had done.
Mr. Partida is now out of the hospital and recovering well from his injuries of less than three months ago.
“I just don’t want it to be swept under the rug,” Mr. Partida told News 10 prior to the hearing. “I just want it to be known. Just want people to take precautions when they go out.”
In the most recent attack, UC Davis police are investigating it as a hate crime, as stated. Police are urging residents with information regarding this case to report it to the UC Davis Police Department calling (530) 752-1230.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
Still trying to get more information. All I got this morning from Andy Fell was: “I hope to have some more information on this later today.”
Why does such a criminal case go to the campus police for investigation? Where does that department get its expertise and legal advice for an investigation of such reported violence?
P.S.–I recently read that our former UCD police chief resigned after two days at her new job in Washington state. Apparently, she apparently she’d walked into a much more serious situation of municipal dysfunction than she’d expected.
I guess it was apparent to everyone.
Interesting hadn’t seen that about the former Chief.
In answer to your first question, the location of the attack is technically on campus even though it is far from any campus buildings.
JS – The UCD Police dept. is a professionally trained, fully sworn force. They do police work on campus and at the Medical Center in Sac. They have an investigations unit, which handles quite a few cases, including felonies. I’ve had the pleasure to work with that unit in the past.
Any crime that occurs within the boundaries of the campus comes under the jurisdiction of the UCD Police.
Mikey Partida’s assault was not less than 3 weeks ago, perhaps you meant to write months.
D, already caught that – was late this am, still recovering from WEF! Thanks!
jberg, thanks for the info. and testimonial. Very interesting. Glad to hear they’re considered equipped to handle such serious, violent acts. “Any crime” includes homicides?
I have to wonder whether such an expensive duplication of evidence gathering, questioning, training, legal backup, and other capabilities for such serious cases makes sense. We tend to be critical of the county’s performance in these duties even though they must have much more experience and resources.
Why would a university campus gear up for this type of crime when any other facility would call in the city or the county? Is it common for campuses to finance such a “full service” operation.
Any idea on how successful is with UCD-handled assault, rape, etc. cases compared with county investigated cases?
From Daviswiki:
January 18, 1985: Fred Morris
Physics lecturer Fred Morris was beaten to death with a hammer in a men’s room on the second floor of the Physics-Geology Building by a deranged Sacramento man named Jeffrey Jones. On January 21, Jones killed another man named Harry Dong at Sutter’s Fort and then nearly killed medical student John Rowland at UC Davis Medical Center, both again with his claw hammer in restrooms. On January 22, Jones killed staff physician Michael Corbett in the same fashion at UCDMC, and that time he was caught. (UC Davis News, December 14, 2004 and California Supreme Court hearing, March 10, 1997)
The campus and UCDMC cases were both handled by UC Davis Police. Each UC campus has its own police department.
JS – All of the local police jurisdictions work closely with the County. The police are DPD, UCD PD, Sheriff’s Office, CHP, Woodland PD, etc. The first level of any investigation begins with the jurisdiction where the crime has been committed. For example, if someone were robbed just south of campus, but not on campus grounds or the freeway, then Solano County SD would take the lead.
UCD PD do not do things much differently than Davis PD when it comes to criminal activity and prosecuting it. The difference is that UCD’s police resources are smaller than DPD’s, but they are usually most needed at the Med Center, except when one of my chemistry compatriots is setting off bombs on campus. That incident, though, is being investigated by multiple agencies, but initially, UCD PD was the primary agency.
UCD, with 30K+ students, support staff, and faculty, is the equivalent of a small city. The primary difference is the motivation of most of the people on campus….I will refrain from any frat boy comments.
JS – On re-reading your post, I think clarification is needed….
[quote]
I have to wonder whether such an expensive duplication of evidence gathering, questioning, training, legal backup, and other capabilities for such serious cases makes sense. We tend to be critical of the county’s performance in these duties even though they must have much more experience and resources. [/quote]
By “County,” I assume you mean the DA’s office. They are not primary investigators. They take information from the police in the various jurisdictions and decide how to assemble a case. There are special county units that get involved in particular cases, but all of that is covered under mutual aid agreements. Most PD’s have mutual aid agreements with other agencies, and fire departments rely on mutual aid all the time. If you listen to police radio, for example, you will often hear a request for “OD Assist,” which could be anything from helping a probation officer from the County to standing by while FBI agents make an entry somewhere.
Most public protection agencies do not operate in a vacuum.
Again, thank you folks for the enlightenment about the UCD police department.
I did mean the DA’s office which takes on these cases. I’m curious whether the sheriff, city police and university police are seen as equally competent by the DA’s office and if the cases move forward as successfully regardless of which department handles the investigations.
I realize that the feds come in for certain crimes and thought that there’d be some level that a university department would lose jurisdiction. But, if UCD gets to investigate its own murders, I guess they could handle anything (except kidnapping, etc.).
(Not to start anything, but how could a police department qualified to investigate a serial killer have screwed up so badly with the Occupy demonstrations? Please don’t answer.)
I still don’t understand how we got to this point. It seems like an unnecessary and costly duplication of city and/or county functions. And, I wouldn’t expect every small university to take on such a burden. Guess I have one more reason to take pride in our Aggies.