Park Visitors Shocked at Apparent Racial Stabbing, Beating

On Tuesday, Steinmetz Park in Hacienda Heights could have been any park, anywhere on a warm summer day, with chatting mothers watching over children of all races climbing monkey bars, whooshing down slides and squealing with glee at their sand-and-water creations.

That’s the way it usually is at the park, a suburban oasis that most nearby residents described as quiet, safe, free from the gangs and crime that plague some more urban parks.

So many of the people enjoying the greenery Tuesday were amazed and disgusted to hear that the park had been the site one day before of a vicious, apparently hate-related attack on a black man, a resident who was walking through the park. According to sheriff’s deputies, six men chased down the solitary stroller just before 4 p.m., beating and stabbing him.

The 22-year-old man, whose name was not released, was in serious but stable condition Tuesday after surgery at Martin Luther King Jr./Drew Medical Center, said Deputy Jim Hellmold. Four residents of the San Gabriel Valley and a juvenile from the Inland Empire were in custody on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon, Hellmold said. A sixth man was still at large.

According to witnesses, the attackers screamed racial slurs at the victim and told him the park was for Mexicans only.

Many residents found that difficult to accept. The park they know is home to a summer day camp, Little League games, T-ball competitions and free Wednesday night concerts.

“I come here every day and there has never been any trouble,” said Terry Murphy, 43, a nearby resident on a walk with her 7-year-old son, Bobby, and her tiny terrier mix, Annie. “This isn’t a Mexican park, it’s for everybody. It’s a nice, quiet park. This is just so terrible.”

But a 21-year-old African American woman at the park, who identified herself as the victim’s sister, said her neighbors are fooling themselves about race relations in the area.

The woman, who asked that she be identified only as Denise because of the suspected hate-related aspects of the crime, said her family, including her brother, moved to the area six years ago to get away from the violence of South-Central Los Angeles. But she said she has heard of other racial incidents in her new community, and she has come to believe that nowhere is safe.

The attacks on African Americans are not new, Denise said. Friends have been targets of physical attacks as well, she said. And before this week’s incident, Denise said, her brother has been shot at, sprayed with tear gas and beaten by those who chose him because of his race. A loner who spends a lot of time in the park by himself, her brother is an easy victim, Denise said.

Those who don’t acknowledge a problem among the ethnic groups in the area, Denise said, don’t want to admit it.

“I’ve seen it first hand,” she said.

What surprises her more than the attack, she said, was that no one came to her brother’s aid.

“This park always has somebody here and no one was here to help him,” she said, speaking quietly and shaking her head. “I don’t understand that. Because it was a black person and a Mexican person, people were afraid.”

Police said the attack started and ended quickly, before witnesses could do more than call authorities, but Denise was not convinced.

“Had it been me,” said Denise, a certified nurse’s assistant, “I would have helped.”

As Denise told her story, Celia Gutierrez, a 39-year-old mother of two boys, heard what she was saying and stopped, horrified to hear that people watched the attack and didn’t intervene.

“I don’t care what color you are, I’m going to try to save your life,” Gutierrez said. “I just thank God her brother didn’t die.”

According to 1990 census figures, the unincorporated community of 52,000 is 39% white, 27% of Asian origin, 20% Latino and 2% African American; the rest of the population described themselves as being of other races.

Sheriff’s deputies said witnesses called authorities and offered a description of the vehicle the attackers used to get away. Authorities then tracked the vehicle to a nearby house.

In custody in lieu of $20,000 bail were Allen Holbrook, 18, the owner of the alleged getaway car, and Frankie Perez, 19, both of Hacienda Heights; West Covina resident Michael Bracamonte, 18; Rudy Romero, 19, of San Gabriel, and a 16-year-old Chino resident whose name was withheld because of his age, Hellmold said.

The father of one of the men in custody denied the group’s involvement in the incident. Frank Perez Sr., at his home a few blocks from the park, said police continuously harass his son, Frankie, and Frankie’s friends.

“Any time anything happens, they come here right away,” Perez said, adding that his son has mouthed off at police, provoking them. “The cops are just trying to pin it on him. They always want to get him.”

Hellmold said authorities are investigating whether the men in custody have gang affiliations and criminal records.