Greenwood pleads guilty to Wagon Wheel Park attack
0 Comments Published by Pioneer Staff on Thursday, July 19, 2007 at 10:40 AM.
By Abby Sewell
Molalla Pioneer
Austin Wright Greenwood, 18, of Oregon City pled guilty today to two counts of third degree assault and one count of first degree criminal mischief in the May 24 attack on two Latino men in Mulino's Wagon Wheel Park.
According to deputy district attorney Scott Healy, angry words "fueled by alcohol" culminated with a mob of young men and women chasing the victims, Alex Bivian Guzman, 26, and Edwin Alfonzo Gonzales, 27, striking Gonzales in the back and pelting his car with river rocks.
Gonzales was hospitalized after being struck in the back by a rock, and his car was totaled.
While initial reports suggested the assault may have been racially motivated, Healy said that interpretation of the case did not hold up to investigation.
"Those statements that it was racially motivated were premature," he said. "People had been drinking too much, and it was a fight that occurred over girls."
Fifth District Circuit Court Judge Ronald D. Thom sentenced Greenwood to 36 months in prison with three years of post-prison supervision. Greenwood was also ordered to pay monetary restitution to the victims for medical bills and the damage to Gonzales' car. The amount has yet to be determined.
Greenwood will be eligible for a boot camp program, which could reduce the amount of time he will spend in prison.
Family members present at the trial said that Greenwood was unfairly singled out for punishment in an altercation that involved as many as thirty people, according to witness reports.
"We think it's sad that Austin had to take the brunt of all that happened there," Greenwood's mother Jean Lindquist said. "A lot of it would have been dropped, but because it was in the media and they said it was racially motivated at first, (the district attorney) decided to make an example of him."
Greenwood's aunt, Kathleen Reid, added, "There were a lot of underaged kids up there drinking and it doesn't seem that a lot was done to find anyone else."
Greenwood never faced hate crime charges as a number of immigrants’ rights organizations would have liked because even though some members of the crowd allegedly shouted “Go back to Mexico” during the attack, investigators could not identify the individuals.
According to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office report, Greenwood made the comment, "All I did was wrestle with some fat Mexican" upon his arrest.
However, Healy said testimony before the grand jury did not warrant treating the assault as a hate crime in Greenwood’s case.
According to the original CCSO report on the incident, Guzman and Gonzales, stopped at Wagon Wheel park to drink beer after work shift at the RSG lumber mill in Mulino. While consuming "a considerable amount" of beer, they struck up a conversation with a couple of young women who were at the park with the party of white males, Healy said.
Healy said the women invited Guzman and Gonzales to join the party, which included Greenwood and his friends, and "everyone was getting along fine" until Guzman and Gonzales left with a pair of women to get more beer.
"When they came back, another female came running up and said the boyfriend of one of the girls in the vehicle had slapped a girl," Healy said. "People were upset already because of something that happened there and words were exchanged between Edwin Gonzales and another male that was there (not Greenwood)."
Seeing the argument, people began crowding around in anticipation of a fight, at which point Greenwood began circling Gonzales and Guzman, Healy said. After more heated words, an unidentified male hit Gonzales in the face, he said. Meanwhile, Greenwood came around behind Gonzales, and it was at that point that Gonzales was struck in the back by a rock.
"That's when (Gonzales and Guzman) started getting pummeled," Healy said.
Greenwood admitted to grabbing Gonzales by the neck, throwing him to the ground and wrestling with him, but he denied throwing the rock that struck the other man in the back.
With assistance from one of the young women on the scene, Guzman and Gonzales succeeded in getting in Gonzales' car and attempted to flee the scene, but the crowd pursued and pelted the car with rocks.
Police arrived on scene shortly thereafter and arrested Greenwood, who witnesses identified as a ringleader in the attack.
"My client was unfortunately the only one charged in this case," Greenwood's defense attorney Jerry Seeberger told the court. "He became the face of this particular incident that was blown way out of proportion."
A teary-eyed Greenwood told the court, "This is not who I am ... I do have a drinking problem and I know this was a very bad mistake."
Guzman and Gonzales were not present at the trial.
Molalla Pioneer
Austin Wright Greenwood, 18, of Oregon City pled guilty today to two counts of third degree assault and one count of first degree criminal mischief in the May 24 attack on two Latino men in Mulino's Wagon Wheel Park.
According to deputy district attorney Scott Healy, angry words "fueled by alcohol" culminated with a mob of young men and women chasing the victims, Alex Bivian Guzman, 26, and Edwin Alfonzo Gonzales, 27, striking Gonzales in the back and pelting his car with river rocks.
Gonzales was hospitalized after being struck in the back by a rock, and his car was totaled.
While initial reports suggested the assault may have been racially motivated, Healy said that interpretation of the case did not hold up to investigation.
"Those statements that it was racially motivated were premature," he said. "People had been drinking too much, and it was a fight that occurred over girls."
Fifth District Circuit Court Judge Ronald D. Thom sentenced Greenwood to 36 months in prison with three years of post-prison supervision. Greenwood was also ordered to pay monetary restitution to the victims for medical bills and the damage to Gonzales' car. The amount has yet to be determined.
Greenwood will be eligible for a boot camp program, which could reduce the amount of time he will spend in prison.
Family members present at the trial said that Greenwood was unfairly singled out for punishment in an altercation that involved as many as thirty people, according to witness reports.
"We think it's sad that Austin had to take the brunt of all that happened there," Greenwood's mother Jean Lindquist said. "A lot of it would have been dropped, but because it was in the media and they said it was racially motivated at first, (the district attorney) decided to make an example of him."
Greenwood's aunt, Kathleen Reid, added, "There were a lot of underaged kids up there drinking and it doesn't seem that a lot was done to find anyone else."
Greenwood never faced hate crime charges as a number of immigrants’ rights organizations would have liked because even though some members of the crowd allegedly shouted “Go back to Mexico” during the attack, investigators could not identify the individuals.
According to the Clackamas County Sheriff's Office report, Greenwood made the comment, "All I did was wrestle with some fat Mexican" upon his arrest.
However, Healy said testimony before the grand jury did not warrant treating the assault as a hate crime in Greenwood’s case.
According to the original CCSO report on the incident, Guzman and Gonzales, stopped at Wagon Wheel park to drink beer after work shift at the RSG lumber mill in Mulino. While consuming "a considerable amount" of beer, they struck up a conversation with a couple of young women who were at the park with the party of white males, Healy said.
Healy said the women invited Guzman and Gonzales to join the party, which included Greenwood and his friends, and "everyone was getting along fine" until Guzman and Gonzales left with a pair of women to get more beer.
"When they came back, another female came running up and said the boyfriend of one of the girls in the vehicle had slapped a girl," Healy said. "People were upset already because of something that happened there and words were exchanged between Edwin Gonzales and another male that was there (not Greenwood)."
Seeing the argument, people began crowding around in anticipation of a fight, at which point Greenwood began circling Gonzales and Guzman, Healy said. After more heated words, an unidentified male hit Gonzales in the face, he said. Meanwhile, Greenwood came around behind Gonzales, and it was at that point that Gonzales was struck in the back by a rock.
"That's when (Gonzales and Guzman) started getting pummeled," Healy said.
Greenwood admitted to grabbing Gonzales by the neck, throwing him to the ground and wrestling with him, but he denied throwing the rock that struck the other man in the back.
With assistance from one of the young women on the scene, Guzman and Gonzales succeeded in getting in Gonzales' car and attempted to flee the scene, but the crowd pursued and pelted the car with rocks.
Police arrived on scene shortly thereafter and arrested Greenwood, who witnesses identified as a ringleader in the attack.
"My client was unfortunately the only one charged in this case," Greenwood's defense attorney Jerry Seeberger told the court. "He became the face of this particular incident that was blown way out of proportion."
A teary-eyed Greenwood told the court, "This is not who I am ... I do have a drinking problem and I know this was a very bad mistake."
Guzman and Gonzales were not present at the trial.
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