71% Say Beating of Immigrants Was Unjustified

Americans overwhelmingly condemn as “unjustified” the actions of two Riverside County sheriff’s deputies caught on video beating illegal immigrants, a new Los Angeles Times Poll has found.

Indignation at the sheriff’s deputies, shown yanking a woman by the hair and clubbing a cowering man on the back and shoulders, swept across all demographic groups. A total of 71% criticized the beating as unjustified, including 56% who termed it strongly unjustified.

Younger people, men and self-described conservatives were a bit more tolerant of the deputies’ actions. But overall, the poll showed clearly that most people believe the deputies used excessive force in arresting the two immigrants who stayed by the pickup’s cab while their fellow passengers jumped out the back and bolted into a tree nursery.

“In my book, you don’t treat human beings like that, especially if you are wearing a badge,” said Horace Fisher, a retired data processing manager from Jacksonville, Fla. In post-poll interviews, he and others suggested that the officers let anger and adrenaline overpower their training. “If you wear a badge, you have to exhibit some kind of restraint,” Fisher said.

In another striking finding, nearly three-quarters of survey respondents blamed either sheriff’s deputies or smugglers for the April 1 incident, which started with law enforcement officers racing after a dilapidated pickup jammed with illegal immigrants and which ended 80 miles later in South El Monte.

Despite reports that the pickup’s occupants threw beer cans at pursuing squad cars during the chase, only 12% of respondents held the immigrants responsible for provoking the violence. “Even though they were illegal, they were viewed as the victims,” said Susan Pinkus, acting director of The Times Poll.

Echoing that view, Elizabeth Garnero, 22, explained: “What the immigrants were doing wasn’t right, but it didn’t give the police a right to hurt [them].

“There are no circumstances that called for that beating. There isn’t any excuse,” said Garnero, a full-time mother from the Northern California town of Marina.

The Times surveyed 1,374 people across the United States by telephone April 13-16. About 80% had heard of the beating, and 40% said they had learned either a “great deal” or a “good amount” about the incident in the two weeks since the video first appeared on television screens worldwide. The poll, supervised by Pinkus, has a margin of sampling error of 3 percentage points in either direction.

Asked who was “most to blame” for the incident, more than one in three picked the deputies. Another 38% of respondents targeted the mysterious smugglers who promised to deliver a ragtag group of hungry, weary immigrants to Los Angeles after they hiked over the border on foot.

Several immigrants have described their ordeal in detail, from the grueling two-day trek across the border to the jolting flight in the pickup--with sheriff’s sirens wailing behind them, the camper shell flying off onto the freeway, and a wind so fierce it ripped the jacket off one terrified passenger. But the immigrants have so far refused to identify either the truck driver or the smuggler, known in border slang as a “coyote.”

The unknown driver/coyote took a heavy share of the blame in The Times poll. In follow-up interviews, respondents pointed out that the driver, not the immigrants huddled in the back of the pickup, made the fateful decision to flee Border Patrol officers in the first place, then led Riverside County deputies on a chase at speeds of up to 75 miles per hour, allegedly sideswiping vehicles along the way in an unsuccessful effort to divert attention.

“I blame the coyote or whoever was driving the truck,” said Los Angeles resident Arnold Gooze. “They are dealers in human flesh and human misery,” added Gooze, an adjunct professor of management at Citrus College in Glendora. “They’re taking advantage of these people to make a fast buck. They don’t care if the immigrants live or die.”

Dan Wilkinson, a Ventura attorney, agreed: “It’s strictly a money thing for these smugglers. The immigrants are looking for a better life.”

Yet sympathy for the Mexican immigrants only extends so far, the Times Poll showed.

More than half the respondents disagreed with the federal government’s decision to let the immigrants remain in the United States for at least six months. The justification for that policy--the immigrants may be needed as witnesses for an investigation or trial--did not wash with a majority of people.

For example, although he did not blame the immigrants for the beating, Gooze called for them to be swiftly deported. “If the authorities wish to call them as witnesses, the authorities can pay for them to come back and testify,” he said.

The poll found 37% who “disagreed strongly” with the government’s policy. Another 16% said they “disagreed somewhat.” A total of 40% expressed some degree of approval.

Hamp Byler, a 39-year-old agricultural pilot from the Texas town of Ballinger, lined up firmly in the deport-them-now camp. “They’re illegal aliens. They ought to be sent back to Mexico,” he said. “They come in, break the law and get to stay. That is the wrong message to send.”

Byler, who lives just a few hours’ drive north of the border, added: “We’ve got a lot of citizens who are starving and need help. We don’t need to be helping illegals. . . . They illegally entered the country, broke our laws and they’re going to get special treatment.”

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How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Poll contacted 1,374 adults nationwide by telephone April 13 through April 16. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the nation. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that both listed and unlisted numbers could be contacted. The sample was weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age, education, region and party identification. The margin of sampling error for all adults is plus or minus 3 percentage points; for certain subgroups the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results can also be affected by factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented.