[h=1]911 call says man attacked by youths 'because he's Mexican'[/h][h=2]Police continue to investigate if verdict in George Zimmerman case played a part in beating[/h]
By Justin George and Scott Dance, The Baltimore Sun 8:40 p.m. EDT, July 16, 2013
The Mexican man beaten by a group of teens in
Patterson Park this weekend said Tuesday that he remembers few details of what happened, as police continue to investigate whether he was targeted because of his ethnicity.
Emergency dispatch tapes released Tuesday describe racial motivations for the attack, which police say was perpetrated by a group of black youths. None of them refer to the Florida murder trial of
George Zimmerman, though a witness later told investigators she heard the assailants say the beating was "for
Trayvon."
Melvin Garcia, 37, said he doesn't know why he was targeted on Sunday while walking near Patterson Park.
"People stupid, you know?" Garcia said. "This area over here is too hard."
Garcia said he doesn't remember anything the youths said while he was beaten. He suffered abrasions in the attack and declined medical treatment. The suspects didn't take his cell phone or wallet, he said.
After interviewing Garcia twice Sunday, police didn't believe that either Trayvon Martin or Zimmerman's name had been invoked in the assault. It wasn't until Christina Dudley, a real-estate agent, posted her personal account of the attack on Facebook that investigators decided to re-interview Garcia.
Zimmerman, acquitted in the death of Martin, a black teenager, is Hispanic.
Almost 24 hours after the verdict, Garcia walked past the group of black males when he said he heard one ask, "What's up?"
Feeling threatened, he said, he pulled out his cell phone to call police when one of the males flashed a gun. Garcia ran but the teens caught him, one grabbing him by the neck of his shirt and throwing him to the pavement.
At least three calls were made to police reporting the incident, according to 911 dispatch records released Tuesday.
"We just saw a bunch of teenage African Americans," a woman parked on the side of the road reported. "One of them has a gun. I guess they were chasing some Hispanic."
Another dispatch call described the assault.
"A bunch of black kids just tried to beat up a Mexican guy and was throwing him down into the street because he's Mexican," the caller told a dispatcher. "It was probably about a dozen kids and they all had him and I saw them lift him up and throw him down into the street and then go running away when I came after them and asked them what they were doing."
Police spokesman Sgt. Eric Kowalczyk said investigators do not know what prompted the attack. No suspects have been identified.
"We don't want to speculate about a motive at this time," Kowalczyk said. "Any crime of violence is unacceptable and we will make sure we do everything and all that we can to bring anybody to justice."
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I am confused here.
Were the assailants were smart enough to figure out Zimmerman was Hispanic, or where they just going with the White Hispanic angle?