By Monica Velez
On the afternoon of February 2, 2016, the idea of trying out the rides at fairs got more complicated, not because they look like they might unhinge at any moment, but because of what might happen before the ride even starts.
Willie Lawrence Nelson, an employee at the Yolo County Fair during the summer of 2015, is being accused of inappropriately touching a woman while he was helping her buckle and adjust her seat belt. The alleged victim said Nelson’s hand went down toward her vagina as he attempted to help her put the seat belt on. She pushed him away as soon as she noticed it, got the young boy with her off the ride and told her aunt what happened.
After the lunch break a video of the interview between Nelson and Davis Police Detective Scott Holck on the night of the incident was played for the court.
During the interview, the detective was asking Nelson whether he touched the alleged victim inappropriately, and Nelson said that he did not mean to touch her, that it happened by accident. Det. Holck asked him if he touched her around her thigh area intentionally or unintentionally.
“I accidentally grabbed her by her thighs,” said Nelson.
In the video, Nelson was acting uncertain at first, saying that he “kinda touched her,” and this is when the detective’s questions and tone of voice began to sound more harsh. Deputy District Attorney Shelby Doyle asked the detective during testimony if he used the harshness as a tactic.
The detective, the first witness of the afternoon, replied yes, that he was using the harsh questions as a tactic because he saw Nelson’s story being changed, leading him to think the defendant was lying.
Nelson continued to say in the interview that he touched her by accident, not meaning to go near her thighs or private areas. He told the detective during the interrogation that he was scared to say he touched her. He was afraid that the police would take it the wrong way and not give him a chance to explain himself, instead accusing him of molesting the alleged victim, the current position he finds himself in.
The detective also asked Nelson about the proper training he had, because it is a rule that the employees are not allowed to buckle anybody’s seat belt while they are on the ride. Nelson said that he knew about this policy but he sometimes had to help children buckle up because sometimes they don’t know how to, they don’t understand English, or he is in a rush to get people on the ride.
“They tell you some things, but they don’t really train you,” Nelson said.
What seemed like the main problem the detective had with Nelson’s story was that, after the alleged victim and her aunt asked him to get a supervisor, Nelson started running and did not go to a supervisor, but went to the bunkers instead (where the employees reside).
Nelson said that either the alleged victim or her aunt said they would get somebody to beat him up, and that is why Nelson said he took off to the bunkers. He said he felt he would be safe there rather than in the supervisor’s trailer. He said he did not know if somebody would start chasing him and felt his bunk would be the best place to go.
The detective argued that if he was really that scared and felt threatened he would have gone directly to one of his supervisors, and the CEO of Midway of Fun (the company running the fair) was 50 to 100 feet away from where the incident happened. There were also police officers and security that he passed on the way to the bunkers, and the detective said he could have gone to any one of them and that Nelson’s decisions did not make sense to him.
“If you’re scared then why didn’t you go to that trailer?” asked the detective.
Deputy Public Defender Aram Davtyan asked the detective about how he made the decision to arrest Nelson that night. The detective said that the “totality of circumstances” caused him to arrest – Nelson’s training, the fact that he did not go straight to a supervisor, and the fact he let the alleged victim ride for free.
When the alleged victim took the stand she described the events in more detail, saying that when she got to the ride where the incident occurred, “Toon Town Train,” she buckled her son in with no problem.
The first question Doyle asked the alleged victim was if she wanted to be here in court today, and she replied yes. When Doyle asked her if she would remember the fair employee (Nelson) if she saw him again, she said yes. However, when asked if she saw him in the courtroom she was not able to point him out, saying she did not see him.
After the alleged victim strapped her son in, she said she started walking toward the exit but then Nelson asked her if she wanted to get on the ride. She asked Nelson if she would have to use another ticket, because she did not want to use her son’s tickets on herself, and he said no so she decided to go on the ride.
The alleged victim said she was having trouble putting the seat belt on because it was too tight and she could not loosen it. Nelson began to help her and said he could do it for her. The description of the seat belt was compared to a strap on a backpack that clips on in the front.
As Nelson was moving his hand toward the center of her body, the alleged victim said she noticed he was not buckling the strap but his hand went downward. She said, when asked by Doyle, she felt his thumb on the center of her vaginal area.
The alleged victim said she was wearing jean shorts and could feel his thumb through them forcefully. She said she pushed him away the second she noticed his thumb touching her, getting herself and her son out of the ride while Nelson kept apologizing and saying that it was an accident.
“He seemed shocked like I wasn’t gunna say nothing,” said the alleged victim.
The alleged victim said she started crying and told her aunt what happened. They then asked to speak to a manager. Nelson said he would take them to a manager, and then the alleged victim said her aunt began yelling to another employee, motioning him to go with them as well. According to the alleged victim, this is when Nelson ran off.
When Nelson got arrested they took him to a trailer, and the alleged victim said that she saw him and knew that it was the right person. When asked by Doyle, she said that she did not say anything about beating up Nelson or getting another person to beat him up.
The manager gave them wristbands as a form of apology and the alleged victim said that she did not leave the fair and stayed the rest of the night.
Davtyan asked the alleged victim if she saw Nelson’s hand or where he was looking and she said she did not see either, she only felt his hand because she was looking at her son. When asked, she said Nelson did not say anything disrespectful and only apologized to her.
Davis Police Officer Joshua Helton was the last witness of the day. He talked to Doyle about how he found the training record of Nelson, with his initials signed on it, saying that the employees are not allowed to buckle in riders. He then gave the documents to Detective Holck.
Davtyan asked Officer Helton if Nelson was carrying a bag or suitcase when he saw him by the trailer, and he replied no.
The jury was dismissed about ten minutes before 4:00 p.m. because there were no more witnesses to call. Judge Daniel P. Maguire said that the trial was ahead of schedule and would end sooner than predicted.
After the jury left, counsel was given the chance to discuss their concerns. Davtyan asked the alleged victim during testimony if she had been molested as a child, with Doyle throwing in an objection and Judge Maguire agreeing with her.
Davtyan argued that it was a proper question for this case, because if she was molested as a child there is a chance she would be more sensitive to being touched and prone to report it, even if it was just an accident. The defense explained to the judge that the alleged victim’s aunt had given him information that she had been molested, but that was the only source.
The prosecutor said she did not know anything about this claim and had never come across a statement supporting it. She said that information does not apply to this case because it is improper and the defense is just trying to “smear her (the alleged victim’s) character.”
Judge Maguire said he would give them a chance to look in to the issue to see if it has any relevance, but could not allow the prior molestation accusations in the courtroom yet.
