Consensus Is Fatal Brawl Should Have Been Stopped

From the snack bars of Cal State Fullerton to the restaurants near the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station, the one belief that remained consistent Wednesday was that someone should have tried to stop the fight that ended in the death of Staff Sgt. Richard Bottjer.

College students and Marines who were interviewed following the news that two Cal State football players would not be charged with Bottjer’s death in a fight two weeks ago said the issue had been closely followed both on campus and at the base.

But their comments about who was at fault and whether charges should have been filed greatly varied.

“He (the football player) should have been arrested,” Sgt. Ed Kos, a Marine stationed at the Tustin base, said in an interview at a Santa Ana restaurant Wednesday night. “If a Marine had killed a student, the Marine would have been arrested, put in jail and prosecuted by now.”

But Mark Jackson, 22, a Cal State Fullerton communications major, disagreed earlier in the day: “It was (Bottjer’s) choice to go across the street to fight,” he said. “If you are going to get into a fight you have to try to defend yourself.”

The Orange County district attorney’s office Wednesday decided not to press charges against the two football players, calling the death an “excusable homicide.”

Sgt. Ron Benedict, 26, said that if the situation would have ended with the student dead, the Marine would have been charged “with a blink of an eye. He would be in Leavenworth right now.”

Benedict and his wife, Lee Ann , who were enjoying a game of pool at a tavern in Tustin on Wednesday night, agreed that there exists a false stereotype for Marines which provokes fights.

“They see Marines on TV, on the movies, at the theaters and they say ‘These guys think they are so cool and so tough, let’s take them outside and beat them up,’ ” said Lee Ann Benedict. “It is just a job. They go to work, work eight hours and then come home at night like everyone else.”

Lance Corp. Eligio Deleon, a Marine at El Toro Air base, said that the stereotype that depicts Marines as “trained killers” is false. Unless Marines are in the infantry, they are not specifically trained in hand-to-hand combat, he said.

“It was totally unfair and bogus that they are not pressing charges,” Deleon said.

All the Marines interviewed said that the death of Bottjer has been discussed often on the Marine bases and that most of the Marines are upset about the situation.

Meanwhile, many of the students at Cal State Fullerton on Wednesday afternoon said that although the death of the Marine had not been a heated issue on campus, they have been following the accounts of the story in the media.

And while all the students interviewed considered the death of Bottjer a tragedy, some said he was partly responsible for his own death by choosing to fight with Cal State Fullerton football players Carlos Siragusa, 21, and John Gibbs, 22.

“A fight is a fight and I figure it is your responsibility to defend yourself or walk away,” said Mark Gunderson, 22, who agreed with other students who said charges should not be filed against the football players.

Kevin Bradley, a 23-year-old business major, said he understands how it might have been difficult for Bottjer or any of the men to back out of the fight.

“I don’t care if you’re a Marine or a football player, if someone challenges you to a fight you will have a hard time turning it down,” he said.

But Kerri Sabine, a 20-year-old art major, said she felt “the whole thing was really stupid. Everyone should take responsibility. . . . Somebody should have broken (the fight) up.”

Like many of her fellow students who were interviewed, Sabine felt that Gibbs and Siragusa should answer for Bottjer’s death.

“Something should happen to those football players,” she said, noting that the only positive aspect of the death was that Bottjer’s heart was later implanted into the chest of an ailing Huntington Beach man in Orange County’s first successful heart transplant.

Wendy Karn, a Russian studies major, who assumed that the incident erupted when “macho attitudes” collided, said, “I don’t know if (Gibbs) should be arrested for murder, but he should be charged with something.”

BOTTJER CASE CHRONOLOGY

12:30 a.m., Thursday, April 7: A group of Marines and a group of Cal State Fullerton football players at Baxter’s, a Fullerton bar and restaurant on North State College Boulevard in Fullerton, get in a scuffle during a “hot legs” contest. Both groups are kicked out of the club, but the fight is continued across the street in a dark parking lot. There, Richard William Bottjer, 30, an aviations specialist at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, is killed after taking two punches from the football players.

Thursday night, April 7: Twenty hours after Bottjer is rushed to the hospital, he is pronounced brain dead. After approval from the dead Marine’s family, doctors prepare to use Bottjer’s heart in Orange County’s first heart transplant. A potential recipient, 26-year-old Scott Headding of Huntington Beach, is informed that a donor heart has been found. The four-hour operation is performed early the next morning and is termed a success.

Friday, April 8: Fullerton police begin investigation. From the start, police are certain that Cal State Fullerton quarterback Carlos Siragusa, 21, and wide receiver John Gibbs, 22, were directly involved in the fight. Police said later that they were not immediately arrested or charged in Bottjer’s death because it seemed clear from the start that the Marine started the fight and threw the first punch.

Friday, April 8: Cal State Fullerton football coach Gene Murphy indefinitely suspends Siragusa and Gibbs from the team, pending the outcome of the police investigation. The players go into hiding, avoiding the press and, for a time, abandoning their apartment.

Monday, April 11: Community tension over the incident rises over unsubstantiated reports that Bottjer had been beaten and kicked by a crowd of eight other men. Flyers are distributed on the Fullerton campus denouncing the coach and attacking the football players as “murderers.” The coach’s office receives threatening telephone calls.

Tuesday, April 12: Ralph and Jule Bottjer, the victim’s parents who live in St. James, N.Y., and had flown to Orange County the day of the transplant operation, publicly criticize the investigation into their son’s death and question why no arrests have been made. Ralph Bottjer charges that a “cover-up” may be in progress to protect the football players.

Wednesday, April 13: Prosecutors and police dispute reports from a witness who said that Bottjer and another Marine had been attacked by four to six other men. To the contrary, a prosecutor says, Bottjer apparently died in a “fair fight” and was not a victim of a brutal beating. The Marine, meanwhile, is buried at Riverside National Cemetery, afforded full military honors.

Friday, April 15: Rep. George Hochbrueckner, who represents the Long Island district where the Bottjer family lives, enters the fray, threatening to bring in the U.S. Justice Department if it appears that local police are bungling the case or justice has not been done.

Monday, April 18: Fullerton Mayor Richard Ackerman demands an apology from Hochbrueckner. The congressman’s staff refuses.

Wednesday, April 20: Deputy Dist. Atty. Bryan F. Brown announces that no charges will be filed against Siragusa and Gibbs in the Marine’s death, calling it an “excusable homicide.” Brown says there is no evidence that Bottjer was kicked or beaten once he was down. An autopsy finds Bottjer died of brain damage caused by the blow of a fist behind an ear. The Bottjer family, meanwhile, pledges to fight on until they feel justice is done.