Teen nets nine-year term for baseball bat assault
PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - A teenager has been sentenced to 9½ years in prison for hitting a 71-year-old man over the head with a baseball bat at a MAX stop in Gresham last fall.
At his sentencing Thursday, Abel Chavez-Garcia told Multnomah County Judge Eric Bergstrom he felt bad about the Nov. 3 beating, which occurred after the man chided the 15-year-old and other teenagers for their rudeness.
"Nothing I can do about it anymore," said Chavez-Garcia, now 16. "I regret what I did."
The victim, Laurie Lee Chilcote, did not attend. In a letter to the court, he said: "I do want this immature, uneducated young person to know I am not intimidated by his criminal behavior. I will recover eventually, but will he?"
Chavez-Garcia, who had been arrested 11 times since he was 14, will likely serve his sentence at the MacLaren Correctional Youth Facility in Woodburn. He is not a U.S. citizen and will face deportation proceedings once he finishes his sentence.
The attack triggered outrage throughout the region and was one of several high-profile incidents that led to calls for increased security on the light-rail system. Those calls were renewed this week when a 28-year-old Vancouver, Wash., woman was assaulted by teenagers - boys and girls - while taking her first-ever MAX ride.
Police said they have arrested four youths suspected in Monday's assault and a fifth teenager remains at large.
The latest attack comes as motorists in greater numbers are turning to mass transit to avoid high gas prices. And with two new rail services under construction - and extensions to Vancouver and Milwaukie in the planning stages - fear of crime threatens to stymie rail expansion.
Mary Fetsch, a TriMet spokeswoman, said the agency has responded by increasing patrols by transit police, fare inspectors and supervisors.
"Unfortunately, we will never be able to prevent all incidents," Fetsch said. "We move over 330,000 people a day on our entire transit system. So what we watch for is, what's happening? Do we need to put additional security personnel and presence at a certain location?"
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
At his sentencing Thursday, Abel Chavez-Garcia told Multnomah County Judge Eric Bergstrom he felt bad about the Nov. 3 beating, which occurred after the man chided the 15-year-old and other teenagers for their rudeness.
"Nothing I can do about it anymore," said Chavez-Garcia, now 16. "I regret what I did."
The victim, Laurie Lee Chilcote, did not attend. In a letter to the court, he said: "I do want this immature, uneducated young person to know I am not intimidated by his criminal behavior. I will recover eventually, but will he?"
Chavez-Garcia, who had been arrested 11 times since he was 14, will likely serve his sentence at the MacLaren Correctional Youth Facility in Woodburn. He is not a U.S. citizen and will face deportation proceedings once he finishes his sentence.
The attack triggered outrage throughout the region and was one of several high-profile incidents that led to calls for increased security on the light-rail system. Those calls were renewed this week when a 28-year-old Vancouver, Wash., woman was assaulted by teenagers - boys and girls - while taking her first-ever MAX ride.
Police said they have arrested four youths suspected in Monday's assault and a fifth teenager remains at large.
The latest attack comes as motorists in greater numbers are turning to mass transit to avoid high gas prices. And with two new rail services under construction - and extensions to Vancouver and Milwaukie in the planning stages - fear of crime threatens to stymie rail expansion.
Mary Fetsch, a TriMet spokeswoman, said the agency has responded by increasing patrols by transit police, fare inspectors and supervisors.
"Unfortunately, we will never be able to prevent all incidents," Fetsch said. "We move over 330,000 people a day on our entire transit system. So what we watch for is, what's happening? Do we need to put additional security personnel and presence at a certain location?"
(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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