Mexican Laborers Beaten in Attack on Alpine Camp

Racial tensions over an encampment of Mexican day laborers here boiled over Thursday night when at least six Anglos wielding baseball bats stampeded through the camp, seriously injuring three men.

The attack was believed to be meant as retaliation for the rape of a white woman near the encampment last week, a sheriff’s deputy said. No suspects were in custody in connection with the alleged rape and it may not be linked to the camp, law enforcement officials say.

Although some migrants at the camp have previously been arrested for public drunkenness, shoplifting and drug use, San Diego County Sheriff’s Lt. Sylvester Washington said the camp has not been a major law enforcement problem.

But some Alpine residents have tied the migrants to an increase in crime. The encampment is situated near a trash-lined creek bed in the center of the growing East County community, and has been home to day laborers for the past several years.

The day after the alleged rape, the victim’s husband showed up with a baseball bat and threatened several groups of migrants near the encampment, witnesses said. Some migrants told a deputy that the man and his friends had returned during the week.

According to Sheriff’s Deputy Mike Tverberg, the attack began when six to eight Anglos approached two migrants as they were sleeping by a creek bed about 7:30 p.m. Thursday and began beating them with bats.

“There was a group of 20 guys up top, and they could hear the baseball bats beating on these guys,” Tverberg said. “They went and looked over the side, right as the white men were running up toward them with the baseball bats.”

The men turned and ran. The attackers then approached a carload of sleeping men parked near where the migrants wait daily to be picked up for work.

Jose Luis Lopez, 39, of Mexicali was the only one who did not run away, and he was beaten with bats on the face and head. Doctors at Grossmont Hospital recommended plastic surgery and released Lopez Friday with a bandaged head.

“They were all taking a rest inside a car, and a baseball bat hit the front windshield,” said Lopez’s boss, who asked not to be identified. “All the windows were broken: front, rear, and side. The other guys got out and ran. But Jose said ‘I didn’t do anything. Why should I run?’ So he just stood there, and he got it pretty bad.”

Lopez--who has worked for a Santee motorcycle shop for more than a year--wanted to return to Mexicali to see a doctor there who will accept payment in installments, and because his wife is expecting a baby in December.

“He said he’s afraid that somebody else might tell his wife, and she might get upset and lose the baby,” Lopez’s boss said.

Oscar Mendoza and Leobardo Zarco were sleeping by the creek bed when they were attacked, Tverberg said.

Mendoza, in his mid-30s, was in good condition after undergoing surgery for a broken arm. He also had a head injury.

“I was just resting with a friend at the creek bed when the men showed up with bats,” Mendoza said from the hospital. “One of them said that we were the ones who had raped a girl there. I tried to get up and run, but they were beating us,” he said.

The men were alone in the canyon at the time. Mendoza, who lives in National City, said he came to the encampment two days earlier because he had heard there was work. He said it was the first time he had been to Alpine, and he doesn’t plan to go back.

Zarco, 32, was airlifted to Sharp Memorial Hospital, where he was listed in good condition in intensive care Friday.

“What I’ve got is very few leads to go on,” said Tverberg. “I really don’t know exactly who it was. These guys couldn’t give me any good description. No one has come forward.”

But Mendoza said he can identify one of the men who beat him--a man with straight dark hair cut into a short tail in the back, wearing a blue shirt and pants.

Tverberg said he planned to interview the husband of the woman who was allegedly attacked. In a phone interview with a reporter, however, the man said he had nothing to do with the incident.

“I’ve been staying away from them people, because I did raise hell down there the first day or two. But I didn’t hit nobody,” he said. “Good for them, whoever it was, maybe they’ll get rid of the Mexicans down there. It’s bad when a woman can’t even walk by without those guys gesturing at her.”

Mexican consular officials in San Diego are monitoring the investigation and hope to assist the victims’ families, Vice-Consul Marcela Merino said Friday.

Tverberg said he heard that some of the migrants--most of them documented workers who return to their families in Mexicali on the weekends--have armed themselves in anticipation of another confrontation Monday.

“They’re banding together. I wouldn’t be surprised if we had another incident,” Tverberg said.

Claudia Smith, regional counsel for California Rural Legal Assistance, said her group plans to go to Alpine Monday to talk to migrants, and ensure that measures are taken to prevent further violence.