[Vision2020] Collective Behavior 101

[Debbie Gray]

Crowd kills man after car hits child

By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON, Associated Press WriterWed Jun
20, 11:58 PM ET

Police on Wednesday were pleading for witnesses to
help them track down members of an angry mob that beat
a man to death after the car he was riding in
apparently struck and injured a child.

Investigators were struggling to piece together what
happened Tuesday when David Rivas Morales died
defending the driver from members of a crowd. There
could have been anywhere from two to 20 attackers,
Austin Police Commander Harold Piatt said.

The car in which Morales, 40, was a passenger had
entered an apartment complex's parking lot when it
struck a 2-year-old boy, Piatt said. The boy was taken
to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

The driver got out of the car to check on the child
and was confronted by several people, Piatt said. When
they attacked the driver, Morales got out of the car
to protect the driver and was attacked as well. Police
said no guns or knives were used.

The driver got away and is cooperating with
investigators. Police identified the child as Michael
Hosea Jr.

There were conflicting accounts of how many people
were in the area. Police originally estimated 2,000 to
3,000 and a woman who lives at the complex said
hundreds who had been at a Juneteenth festival filled
the parking lot and street.

But late Wednesday police spokeswoman Toni Chovanetz
said only 20 people were in the area where the assault
occurred.

Chovanetz also said there was no connection to the
nearby city-sponsored festival for Juneteenth, which
commemorates Texas slaves getting the word that they
had been freed.

Margaret Morales said a young boy came to her door to
tell her that her brother was lying on the ground
outside. She found David Morales, sprawled on the
pavement 100 feet from her townhouse, battered and
choking on blood.

She said her mother came running after hearing her
screams, but police wouldn't let either of them get
close to him.

Police arrived one minute after receiving a 911 call,
by which time the beating had stopped, Chovanetz said.
But the Morales family complained that medical help
was slow in coming.

Chovanetz said witnesses told police that three or
four men attacked Morales, knocking him to the ground.
A man got out of another vehicle and hit Morales
again, Chovanetz said.

David Morales arrived at the hospital about 35 minutes
after the 911 call was received, said Warren
Hassinger, Austin-Travis County Emergency Services
spokesman. Emergency officials said police ordered
them to wait until the area was secure.

Several hundred people had filled the parking lot and
street as the daylong festival at a nearby park ended
and spilled over into the surrounding neighborhoods,
said Katherine White, a Morales family friend who
lives in a townhouse next door to where the beating
took place.

Margaret Morales said her brother, who was staying
with her, was a painter on his way home from work. The
driver, whom she knew only as Victor, picked him up
and dropped him off everyday, she said.

The Morales family remembered David as a caring
brother who loved the San Antonio Spurs and was
thrilled when they won the NBA title last week. Earl
White, Katherine's brother, said David Morales enjoyed
sitting on the porch, watching the neighborhood
children play in the parking lot.

"I just want the people caught and brought to
justice," another sister, Elizabeth Morales, said. "I
want them to feel the same pain that they caused my brother."


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