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Crowd kills man after car hits child

2007-06-21 19:02:31

By LIZ AUSTIN PETERSON, Associated Press Writer Wed Jun 20, 7:22 PM ET

AUSTIN, Texas - 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 leaving a

Juneteenth celebration. 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 3- or 4-year-old child, Piatt said. The

child 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, who are not

releasing his name.

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, department spokeswoman Toni Chovanetz said. But the Morales family

complained that medical help was slow in coming.

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.

An estimated 2,000 to 3,000 people were in the area for a city-sponsored

festival for Juneteenth, which commemorates Texas slaves getting the word that

they had been freed.

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.

Police said the injured child was a girl, but White said it was a boy with long

hair he wears in ponytails.

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."