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Immigration See other Immigration Articles Title: Brookside 'prank' spurs very serious charges STOCKTON - Four Stockton teenagers could face hate crime charges after their arrests Saturday night in connection with what they told police was a prank on two Brookside security guards. The four 16-year-old boys, whose names were not released, poured gasoline across sections of Spanish Bay Circle in Brookside, called two security guards to the area and then lit the fuel on fire, shouting racial slurs as columns of flames burned in front and behind the guards, police said. One of the guards is black and the other is Asian-American. The boys also threw a Molotov cocktail-type of device about 15 feet from where the guards stood. Though more remains to be investigated, police are treating the incident as a potential hate crime, Stockton Police Officer Pete Smith said Monday. "We definitely haven't ruled that out," Smith said. The four boys, who face felony charges of conspiracy and using a destructive device to terrorize or intimidate the guards, were cited and released to their parents on Saturday, Smith said. The San Joaquin County District Attorney's Office will determine whether to pursue hate crime charges against the boys, Smith said. Police also seek to interview others who may have been involved with the incident, Smith said. Smith said he could not comment further on the incident, saying that doing so could jeopardize the ongoing investigation. Both of the guards worked for Securitas Security Services, which covers Brookside. Terry Brady, president of the security company's Northern California division, didn't believe the incident was racially motivated and said the company's guards face similar situations or worse almost every day. "This is nothing in our world," Brady said. Guards for Securitas, which employs 6,500 guards in Northern California, have been shot and physically attacked at some of the locations they protect, Brady said. One of the company's guards was shot outside a Stockton restaurant seven or eight months ago, Brady said. He said he did not know of any history between guards stationed at Brookside and the teens. Given what's known about the incident so far, Brady said it doesn't seem to him to be a hate crime. "I don't think it was aimed at (the guards)," Brady said. "I think it was kids screwing around." Hate crimes are those motivated by the victim's race, ethnicity, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation or physical or mental disability, according to the California Attorney General's Office. Law enforcement agencies in San Joaquin County reported 27 hate crimes directed toward 39 victims in 2000, according to the state attorney general's report "Hate Crime in California 2000." The acrid smell of gasoline on Monday lingered over the oil-black strips of scorched asphalt that mark where the incident happened. Residents in the tony Brookside neighborhood were surprised to hear of it, even more so that it may have been a hate crime. "I hope it's an isolated one," said resident Chris Hake, 47. "I hope it doesn't happen again."
Poster Comment: I put this under "immigration" because there isn't a Decline of Western Civilation choice on that menu... Sounds immigration related anyway.
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#1. To: All (#0)
I'll probably be charged under PATRIOT act for posting this.
I recommend that you get an 'OK' for your tag-line with Chertoff. Hate-crimes are dependent on the thoughts of the perpetrators. you've posted this article on purpose. You've admitted as mucc guilt as deranged hate-criminals ever admit in #1 already. and you've got that tag-line. been nice knowing you.
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