assault

[concernedparent]

My son was the victim of an assault by an unknown person near the end of 2007. he was hit in the back of the head and found on a sidewalk unconscious by someone that called 911. He spent a few days in ICU due to a skull fracture crossing 2 bones and multiple brain injuries. the main injury being an epidural hemotoma along with other deep tissue hemorrhages. anyway, more than a year later, he has not een released to return to work and our lives will never be the same as a result of this incident, but I am very aware that we are so lucky he survived.

There are lots of details that would take to long to mention here, so if anyone has questions, please ask.

Anyway, He had no memory of anything surrounding the incident or that day or days prior, so there was not alot to go on. I did locate the 911 call on the internet and asked the officer to please find out if that call was for my son, or related since he actually called us the next morning. the officer did make that call and we found out that the 911 call was for him, but when they got there, he was gone,so he missed his ambulance ride.(911 caller left him there and 3 other guys came along and carried him inside his back door right off the sidewalk where he was found) I also wanted them to talk to the security guards to find out if they knew anything, but I could not get them interested in doing that.

I finally hired my own detective because the case was listed as inactive and I had pulled all of the reports for the year prior and saw that there had been more than 20 assaults there during that time frame and many looked just like his except maybe not as severe. I also called the chief's office and I was told by Pam? his admin that they did not have the resources to do an investigation. Also the officer further told me that he thought it was just a bunch of kids messing around. I have to say I dont think kids mess around by whacking each other in the head or slamming their head into the sidewalk, but whatever, so I paid my $1500 and hired my own detective.

the detective contacted the officer, spoke to the kid that was assaulted the night before and contacted the person on the phone list from his calls that night. he found out that my son had called this person and asked them to please come find him, he tells them that he has no idea where he is but understands that he is on that property somewhere. I had to re verify the info with this person and found out that he made at least one other phone call begging this person to come find him. Since there were hours between the first phone call and the 911 caller seeing him on the sidewalk, I think he was in and out of consciousness. I also realized that meant he had likely just gotten out of his car, because it was parked away from his apartment suggesting that he had gotten there after his parking area filled. The person on the phone list said he was very dirty when she saw him and I realized that a few feet away, there was a ravine. More likely, he got out of his car, was attacked, drug over to that ravine and tossed down it which would account for the dirt, the fact that NO ONE had any idea where he was or had seen him. the fact that he did not know where he was (911 caller found him behind his apartment) and the missing hours. If this was kids messing around, he would not have been calling someone begging them to come find him spaced several hours prior to being found unconscious behind his apartment. Anyway, I still have bad dreams about what took place that night, but what makes the whole thing really hard to take is that there were 3 kids that received head fractures that weekend, the other 2 were listed as simple assaults and I know that the guy that was assaulted that night (or morning) after my son was written up all wrong. I spoke to him and he said he was coming in and ended up being jumped by 6 guys, but the report lists 1. he gave me a very good description, so I doubt he was making it up. He also said he had to have surgery on his fractured eye socket, because a nerve was coming through and he could not see out of that eye. He said he was designated driver that night for an event his girlfriend was attending, but he is shown as intoxicated by alcohol. If I didn't already know that my son was written off as some drunk kid without any evidence whatsoever to support that, (he had no memory, hospital records do not reflect this, there were no witnesses, and the police did not see him for several days after and he was heavily medicated at that point)I would have had a hard time believing him, but unfortunately, its true. I am afraid we are causing our own problems in university city, by not taking our young adults serious when they need assistance. It is automatically put back on them as their fault.

Oh, I almost forgot, the reason I wanted the security officers contacted is because they were on site and would have access to the security tapes that night which would have at least shown how he got to the sidewalk. (tapes overwritten) but I was concerned about 1 officer because I later went by and saw him hanging out with a bunch of kids that were drinking, by the time I realized no one else was going to contact this company, they had been terminated and the officer in question had returned to his country. so now I really want to know who he was.

I still cant seem to get through to the cmpd. I cant get through to the new chief, and I also hate calling because they have made it pretty clear what they think about this situation. I also don't like to make people mad, but darn it, I am mad. My son matters. The other kids that have been or will be attacked by these people matter. And I think it is absurd that the CMPD just decides who is worthy of an investigation and who isn't. And its not like he has a criminal history either.

to be fair, there was someone within cmpd, outside the university division, that helped me get the security company name, and I do really appreciate that, especially since I could not get my own detective or anyone assigned to the case to do it. This took all of about 2 minutes.lol.

I think there are still leads here that deserve to be considered.

Friends have suggested that I use the power of the media, but, this is so very personal and emotional, that I really think every possibility needs to be exhausted first. So I thought maybe someone here would have a suggestion as to how to get cmpd to take this seriously.

I hope this makes sense because I cant make the font big enough to reread...so If you need clarification, just ask.

Thanks so much for taking your time

[poleece]

I do not want this to sound bad. I also want to say that I am sorry for what you and your family are going through. With that being said, I want to make a few points. It won't make you feel any better, but it may help you understand some things.

No police department in the U.S. or anywhere has enough resources to investigate every crime until it is solved. After a certain amount of time, many cases become inactive. If an inactive case gets new information, the case usually gets re-opened until that lead goes dry.

I'll explain it this way, an Officer begins his shift, during his shift he takes a house break-in report, a hit and run report, and an assault report. Each report takes about an hour or two to complete. Now, those are just the reports he takes. Not including the 911 calls that do not generate reports or the proactive policing in the neighborhoods to try to prevent crime etc.

Now, the three reports the Officer took are now assigned to him to follow up on. So, the Officer comes to work the next day and attempts to squeeze in some follow up investigation on the reports he took the day prior, while getting another three reports today. Again, I am not trying to make excuses, I am just trying to help you understand why.

Also, all the reports that are taken over the phone get sent down to the Officers in the Districts. The same Officer's that are expected to be out patrolling the streets. Each Officer could easily spend six hours out of an eight hour shift doing nothing but following-up on cases that are assigned to them.

Prior to the changes Chief Monroe made, if someone was shot, and did not die, that investigation fell to the Officer. Some reports we take go to Detectives, Auto Theft, Robbery, Homicides etc.

I do not doubt there was some bad work done that night, and there always will be. Police Officers after all are human and we do make mistakes. But most of us do TRY to do everything we can for the victim(s) and families.

I hope that some of this helped you to understand the "resources". At no point was I trying to be condescending or mean or anything like that.

[concernedparent]

Thank you so so much for the reply. Regardless of if I like what is said, I need the input, so thank you for taking your time.

I did want to say that I understand what you are telling me, and I completely agree with you, but here is my problem.

The officer that took the report works 3rd. I called and left a message on the machine. spoke to a Sargent and she sent an officer out to take the report. She did go out of her way, because we were no longer in meck county. I wanted to wait for a 3rd shift officer because I thought maybe they heard something or knew something that 1st or 2nd shift would not know.

The Sargent knew that my son was just coming out of ICU from the incident and therefore knew the seriousness of the crime, but . she sent an officer that was going on vacation the next day. That was still fine. In some ways it gave me time to process everything that had happened and try to figure out what had occurred.

Anyway, I felt that while on their shift working their area, they could drive through that community and just see what is going on, maybe question people they see out, but most importantly speak to the Security officers patrolling the area that night(always the same to officers). I mean thats what the security officers are there for.

In addition, The location where the 911 caller found him unconscious was a direct shot to the surveillance cameras, so that part would have been on the surveillance tapes. (the sidewalk runs between his back door and the pool).When the ambulance arrived, he was missing and the police were called to assist in searching for him. Security was part of this and knew the location, so I cannot imagine that they did not look at the tapes at that time. The tapes are supposedly now overwritten, but management and security knew there was an incident in that area, so it would be odd that the tapes were not reviewed.

I also wanted the management office questioned, to see if they had any info. I could already tell that they would not be as forthcoming and less like to reveal what they knew with me, but would respond better to police. Also, I knew that security has to turn in a log each night for the events of the night before, so I wanted to see if there was anything in it that was important.

Since things were going nowhere fast, I pulled all of the assault reports from that area for the past year and since I could not remember from one report to the next what the report prior said, I put them all into an excel spreadsheet

the spreadsheet listed all details of the victim description and status of the case, location, date etc. Now, when I did this I was stunned. There were multiple incidents of someone randomly hit in the head by unknown person. Several of them were just arriving. to make it more odd, the victims were very similar.

Anyway, that weekend alone 3 kids get head fractures. the victims are so similar that the detective thought my son was a case of mistaken identity, but after I put it in the spread sheet they are all the same. The one the night before is slightly different because he was at a party and there were witnesses (I don't think those were the same kids, but I do see a connection having to do with bar Charlotte). I believe the kid assaulted later that night was likely assaulted by the same people as my son. As a result of this information along with other facts that would take to long to mention here, I am very concerned that this is much bigger than just my son.

I am also concerned about some things in the some reports that cant possibly be correct. furthermore, there were kids there (part of at least one of the listed incidents) that often told people they were part of the bloods. I don't know if they are, but thats what they say when they beat the crap out of someone. there was also a rumor that at least one of them was using a date rape drug in girls drinks, but I have no proof of this, just what one of these kids told me was going on.

The favorite thing to say by the old and new chief is that we need the community's help. That statement makes me crazy because I feel like I am doing everything I can and I need their help. Just an hour, maybe two to look at the evidence I have and ask a couple of people a couple of questions seriously.

I guess my main question is this. Is it really too much to expect them to look at this information, and talk to security and the management office. It didn't seem like it to me, but am I just expecting too much?
I really do want to know.

Anyway, I know I need to find some peace with this. I don't sleep anymore and my son sleeps about 16 hours a day. When I can fall asleep I dream about it. I cannot help the feeling that I am supposed to do something and have no idea what

If the people that did this have not already murdered someone, I think they will. They clearly did what they did to my son and left him to die. He had 4 hemorrhages, 4 bruises a shear injury, and epidural and smaller subdural hemotoma and brain swelling along with the fractures.Its odd that he is doing as well as he is, but I thank god for that. Another person with the same injuries would not have survived it. He is very very lucky. I don't want anyone else to go through this.

Please don't worry about me taking your comments wrong. I really want and need the input regardless of what that input is.Maybe I need to view this differently, but its hard when the real issues have never been addressed and to me it looks like there are lots of leads.

Thanks again for taking the time.

[poleece]

I wish I could give you something that could ease your mind or in someway make your situation easier to handle because you sound very sincere in what you are saying. You are not doing what many people do an act like you are the only person on the planet and noone else deserves any attention until your case is solved, and I respect you for that, I really do.

The Chief saying that we need the community's help is 100% correct. Many of the serious cases we solve are from one person who decides at that moment to take a stance to do the right thing and tell someone, and without that one person we would have nothing. With the times as they are, people for one reason or another are scared to tell the truth or as they call it "snitch".

I have no doubt that there is something, or someone that holds the key to who assaulted your son. All I can say is I hope someone, maybe an officer in your district or a citizen steps up.

It sounds like by what you are saying there are some stones yet to be overturned.

[concernedparent]

thank you so much for your understanding That means more than I can tell you.

As a result of this discussion, it just dawned on me what the whole point really is. I will try to post that over the weekend when I have more time, since I am not very quick. lol.

[concernedparent]

Hi,

I mentioned in my previous post that I wanted to explain what my point or purpose in all of this was.

It’s pretty simple really. There is a much bigger picture here, than just what happened to my son. Of course that is upsetting, but the fact that there were so many victims in one complex scares me. What I have never said even to myself is that I wont be able to put this down until I know that someone else picks it up and takes it seriously enough to see this for what it is. Until then, these situations will continue. Maybe not at the same place, but others.

This is just my opinion but if a person that does not know you walks up to you and starts beating you in the head, they have serious problems and that is just insane. It takes a very cold person to even think that might be fun. I suspect that those people get more and more violent, but I am certainly no expert.

The Officers probably did write these reports according to procedure but then there is a flaw in the procedure. (Just my opinion again, but hopefully the reason will be understood by the end of this letter)

I get that aggravated assaults are only considered when a weapon is involved, or as in my sons case and the report is taken after the victim has spent several days in ICU, but if this could be considered…a simple assault could be nothing more than verbal, therefore that is not considered a violent crime and really, no one could expect any police department to investigate such trivial matters, but these incidents were violent even if they did not qualify as violent crimes.

If the procedure is not changed, Situations like these will always fall through the cracks because of the classification. The report gets completed and no one thinks much more about it to even realize there is something serious happening. Why would they? If its not considered violent then it would not qualify. Only if you have a loved one that was injured and you are trying to find answers are you going to see what I do in all of this, and only because I went through every report, several times.

Now obviously I am not suggesting that the NCGS can be changed, but it seems like another code could be added for department purposes for people randomly attacked by an unknown person that may not qualify for other things, so that it can be caught if there are multiple incidents in an area. As it stands, it would be nearly impossible to catch it. There has to be a reasonable and simple solution to this.

The only way for anyone to understand the depth of what I am talking about is to see some of what I am looking at, so I am going to post the report spreadsheet.

I hope it posts correctly. Assuming that it works, I would like to note that I removed the names phone number and other identifying information of the victims. I also removed the incidents that were clearly not relevant.

This is a breakdown of the spreadsheet

17 incidents of assault from 12-3-06 until 12-2-07.
12 of these occurred between 8-11-07 and 11-12-07 (3 mos 1 day)
The area is around 30 acres
There were 27 victims
20 WM
3 BM
2 WF
2 BF

Of the 17 incidents:
15 were unknown suspects and 2 outside family.
15 had injuries and 2 no visible signs of injury
13 victims medically treated per the reports.
1 additional victim medically treated after

I am fairly familiar with 3 of these incidents. The assault on my son as described earlier, and the other 2 incidents from that weekend.

When I spoke to those victims, they were surprised it had happened to anyone else. They thought theirs was an isolated incident

9/22/07 assault details–
Simple assault
Injuries were an orbital blowout fracture and stitches to eyelid.
Arrests made as a result of victim filing for warrant at magistrates office on 9/23/07.
Magistrate did change charge to assault inflicting serious injury.
The victim’s statement on file with the court house states an additional 5 or 7 others participated in the beating.
A conviction was given against 1 of the 3 suspects arrested for the assault
1 suspect was a name error and was not present for the assault. (Unfortunately for him, his mugshot remains on the website since he was arrested) His charges were dismissed as a result.
1 suspect was stricken due to public defender giving suspect wrong court date.
Case listed as closed/cleared




This one actually does confuse me…
9-23-07 assault details
Simple assault
Injuries were an orbital blowout fracture which required surgery due to vision loss, broken nose, knocked out tooth, gash above eye and injuries to ribs.
Report listed incident as happening outside, but victim stated that these guys forced their way inside his apartment. But …they first saw suspects in breezeway as they were arriving home. The suspects made crude comments to the girlfriend to provoke a fight, but the victim and girlfriend went inside and tried to go to bed. They started banging on the door and when the g/f went to the door and asked them to stop, they forced their way inside.

Report states that there was 1 suspect but victim was adamant about being attacked by 6 suspects and gave the following description of these guys –

1 6 ft long brown hair midway down back. Heavy set and tattoos covering back, chest and arms.
2. 5 ft 10 in Short blond hair tattoos on arm
3. 5/6 Short and skinny shaved head

The other 3 he said he could not swear to because he was too busy trying to get them off him.

Maybe it’s me, but this guy has way too much detail for their not to be some truth to this. He was not vague or evasive and answered all my questions quickly and consistently. Some questions I had to ask a couple of times for clarity just to make sure I heard him right. I don’t know what caused the confusion, but it doesn’t really matter, because it’s still another victim attacked by unknown suspects.

Case closed due to victim chose not to prosecute, victim states that he was told he would have to go to the magistrates office. But victim states he was told he could go to the magistrate’s office. He later found out the name he was given was incorrect for some reason. Possibly the neighbor gave the wrong name?

Every time I pick this up, I realize something new. There is an assault listed on 11-10-07. Arrests were made in this case. This sounds very much like what the other 9/23 victim described. Coming home and attacked by several unknown suspects. In addition, I think I mentioned this previously…but I recently realized that the time we initially thought my son was assaulted was way off which was determined as a result of phone calls he made which shows times on the phone log. At that point I realized that he was likely just getting there. So… I would be very curious to know if any of these suspects match the descriptions given by the other 9/23 victim

I am sure that all of these are not related, but I strongly suspect that there are several that have to be. Of course, you can look at the spreadsheet and come to your own conclusion on any patterns you may see.

If something is noticed that I have missed, it would be great if it could be mentioned.

Thanks for taking the time to read this

ughhh. pasting the spreadsheet messed up the format so its alot harder to view. but the info is all there, just not easy to match everything up at a glance. it is listed below.


Date Time Classification Report Number Property Address Victims Phone # Victim age / race Victims/ Suspect Incident description Relationship to victims Injuries Y/N Treated / untreated Case status

12/3/2006 0340 Assault W/ deadly weapon intent to kill inflicting serious injury (knife wounds) Hit and run property 23 WM, 21 WM, 20 WM, 22 BM 4/1 Unknown suspect inflicted knife wounds on the 3 WM not known Yes Treated and released Further Investigation

1/1/2007 0345 Aggravated Assault w/deadly weapon, armed robbery 18 WM 1/3 Victim in parking lot when suspects assaulted him pointing a handgun at his stomach. Suspects fled scene in silver suv not known No N/A Further Investigation

2/4/2007 2245 Simple Assault 19 WM 1/3Three unknown suspects assaulted by striking in head with closed fists. Visible signs of injury not known Yes Treated and released INACTIVE

6/23/2007 0346 Simple assault/ intimidation None Given 21 WM 1/1 suspect pointed pocket knife at him . Victim sustained bruises and scratches not known Yes Refused treatment INACTIVE

8/11/2007 0158 Aggravated Assault w/deadly weapon 19 WM 1/1 Suspect hit in head with a beer bottle leaving cuts on head and left ear not known Yes Treated by medic INACTIVE

8/11/2007 0355 simple assault 29 WM 1/1 The victim was struck in face numerous times by unknown suspect. Suspect struck victim with closed fists and threatened to kill him. The victim was transported with non life threatening injuries unknown yes Treated and released INACTIVE

9/8/2007 0038 Simple assault/damage to property including graffiti Withheld None Given 21 WM 1/2 or 3 suspects assaulted victim and damaged vehicle report states serious injuries and minor injuries not known Yes Report states refused treatment to police but also treated at university hospital Further investigation

9/17/2007 0357 simple assault Temporarily witheld None Given 24 WM 1/1 R/O dispatched to re domestic assault.Upon arrival the victim stated between listed times of occurance he and suspect were engaged in verbal altercation when suspect struck in face. Victim advised that he and suspect were presently household members which qualified as sharing a personal relationship. Outside Family scrapes and bruises Refused treatment Closed/Cleared

9/22/2007 0003 Simple Assault (Eye socket fractured) 19 WM 1/3 Witness advised that suspects suddenly assaulted victim by punching in face and head, suspects then fled scene not known Yes treated and released Closed/Cleared

9/23/2007 Time is unk 0130 Aggravated assault inflicting serious injury 18 WM 1/1 Victim was assaulted by an unknown suspect(s) Assault resulted in serious head injuries to victim. not known Yes Hospitalized INACTIVE

9/23/2007 0343 simple assault 24 WM 1/1 The victim reported that listed suspect assaulted him outside of #G unknown scrapes and bruises Refused treatment Closed/Cleared victim chose not to prosecute

10/26/2007 2230 Assault W/ deadly weapon/ aggravated assault None Given 19 BM 1/1 dispatched to CMC hospital. Victim stated that he was walking near when unknown suspect struck him in the head with handgun causing minor injuries not known Yes Treated and released INACTIVE

10/28/2007 0200 simple assault 21 WF, 20 WM, 20 WM 3/3or more Suspects assaulted by punching and slapping then fled the scene not known y Victim 2 treated at hospital and released. Victim 1 and 3 only bruises and scratches INACTIVE

10/28/2007 0305 simple assault 21 BF 1/1 suspect assaulted by striking her about her face and head with fists. Victim states she will seek a warrant not known minor injuries Untreated Cleared by arrest

11/10/2007 0337 simple assault 21 WM, 19 WF 2/3 Victim #2 had just parked her vehicle in front of her building when they were accosted by several unknown suspects that then assaulted them not known both had minor injuries Both treated and released Cleared by arrest

11/12/2007 1633 simple Assault None Given 18 WM, 24 WM, 19 WM 3/1 Suspect assaulted the victims during an argument. Outside Family No visible injuries Untreated Further Investigation

12/2/2007 1550 Assault/B&E/Damage to property(Grafitti) None Given 19 BM, 20 WM, 19 BF 3/2 Victims stated that suspects broke into apartment and assaulted victims while inside. Victims had apparent minor injuries. Front door and frame and mirror damaged not known Yes Untreated INACTIVE