Talking Circle

[Trinityz1]

Skinheads Hunt Native American Family: Guess Who Gets Arrested?

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/07/10/993043/-Skinheads-Hunt-Native-American-Family:-Guess-Who-Gets-Arrested


Warning: the information below is likely to make your blood boil.

A hate crime happened a few weeks ago in Fernley, Nevada that is just becoming known to the wider public. A family has lost its car, is bankrupt and cannot return to their home because of it.

You should know about it. When you do, you will want to take action. At the end, there is a change.org petition, information for press contacts, and a Facebook Page where you can find more information and express your solidarity. Please leave any other ideas you may have in the comments.

It all happened when Johnny, Lisa and Alyssa Bonty, and their son-in-law, all from the Reno Sparks Indian Colony, stopped at the Quick Stop to get some gas in Fernley NV on May 24th. The rest is below the fold.

Photobucket

According to Indian Country Today, this is what happened:

The Attack

Johnny Bonta got out of the car to pump some gas when a carload full of skinheads pulled up alongside him. One of them got out of the car with a baseball bat and tried to pick a fight. Johnny told him he didn't want to fight and got back into the car. The family then drove off, with his son-in-law, Shane Murray, behind the wheel. But now the skinheads were in pursuit.

As the Bonta family was heading for the freeway ramp, the skinheads cut them off and jammed on the brakes, causing a crash. The three skinheads then all got out of their car with baseball bats, knives and a crowbar and attacked the family.

Here's how Lisa Bonfa described the vicious assault that followed:

“They all jumped out of the car with baseball bats, knives and a crowbar, and we knew they were going to hurt us,” said Lisa Bonta, in an interview from Washoe Medical Center, where she was in treatment for seizures she suffers.

...snip...[even though this happened at 1pm, nobody passing by would stop to help them]...

“I saw one of them hit my husband in the head with a bat, and the other one was trying to cut off his braid with a knife. Johnny was covered in blood and they just kept hitting him with a crow bar. They even tried to slit his throat,” she added.

“Jacob Cassell had my son-in-law on the ground in a chokehold and Shane was turning blue. My daughter was sobbing ‘they’re killing him’ and somehow she found the strength to hit Jacob in self-defense so he would release Shane.”

It was then, Lisa said, that Cassell turned his anger on her and her daughter, jumping on the hood of their car while swinging a baseball bat and cursing at them.

“I’m a 46 year-old woman with serious health problems, and I tried to defend myself, but he hit me across the lower back with his bat, calling us ‘niggers and river monsters,” said Lisa, who is Anglo. “He pointed at Alyssa and said he would rape her the next time he saw her in Fernley, where she lives.”

Johnny was knocked out by the bat, which had broken his nose and sinus cavities.

Turns out that Jacob Caswell's father is a police officer in town, and after they tired of assaulting the family, Caswell taunted them with that fact:

“You hear those cops coming? They’re not going to help you. My daddy is a cop in this town, and nothing is going to happen to me. You fucking niggers are going to jail.”

The Police Response

And sure enough, the police arrive and they DON'T TAKE ANY STATEMENTS FROM THE VICTIMS, JUST THE SKINHEADS!!!! They completely ignored the family until Lisa suffered a seizure.

This despite the fact that Johnny had a broken nose, nasal cavity, and could barely stand from being hit with the bat. Shane had a crushed elbow and a broken hand, among other things.

Three ambulances responded arrived on the scene and took Lisa, Murray and Alyssa for medical treatment. Lisa assumed Johnny had been taken in another ambulance, but he had not.Johnny was taken to jail and received NO medical attention for SIX days!!!!!!!

"Why?" you ask?

First they told Lisa that he had an outstanding $367 fine.

When the family arranged to pay it, they charged Johnny with battery with a deadly weapon, even though he had NO weapon.

The police wouldn't even let in an IHS doctor to treat Johnny in the jail. He only got medical attention after tribal police pursued his release, six days later.

The family also lost its car in all of this, and the police would NOT help them locate it, even though they were the ones who towed it. TWO WEEKS later they finally found it in a small impoundment yard, with its tires flat.

The family cannot afford to get the car out since Johnny was out of work due to his injuries. Family members now are walking to their doctors' appointments.

The Brag on Facebook

These morons always have to brag. They incriminate themselves, that is if anyone's listening (or, in this case, reading):

Two hours after attacking the Bontas, Josh Janiszewski of Fernley wrote, “Just laid the fists and boots to some 6' 5” tongan dude. what you got on little guys?” at 3:13 p.m. When asked if they gave them hell, Josh responded. “Oh we did. That’s for sure!” at 3:48 p.m. “Amen,” said Jacob Cassell at 4:07 p.m.

Jacob’s mother Dee Cassell also commented, “So…who has blood? You guys need to come home to mom?” at 4:48 p.m. She later added that she gave them First Aid. “Better have ur asses at home after I did 1st aid. Don’t piss off women – they r worse than men!” she wrote at 8:00 p.m.

When asked if they got “some good licks” in, Josh said, “sent em to the hospital, they got fucked up man, thats for sure.”

The Pattern

Since this crime occurred, the family has found out that skinheads have attacked other Native American families in nearby towns as well, but nobody reports the crimes because they feel the police won't help them. AND THEY'RE RIGHT!!!!!

FBI Investigation

I was relieved to learn at the end of the article that the FBI is investigating this as a hate crime, and has taken statements from the family. The Justice Department should also be investigating the Fernley police department as well, but the article doesn't provide any information on that.

The family has contacted the ACLU and is trying to get a lawyer through them.