http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 00657.html

Brawl Shows Problems of Policing Cultural Crossroads

By Ruben Castaneda
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, September 17, 2006; C07


In a rough-and-tumble Langley Park neighborhood, a bloody, chaotic melee involving more than a dozen brawlers broke out on a sweltering night last month.

A short walk from a community center where Prince George's County police and State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey (D) were with hundreds of people at an anti-crime event, officers converged on the parking lot of a brick garden-style apartment complex.

A 16-year-old Latino boy who'd been knocked unconscious lay on a concrete walkway. His father, a construction worker, limped around with ligament damage to his ankle. Paramedics tended to a young black man who had been stabbed in the abdomen.

At first glance, the fracas appeared to have been sparked by racial conflict.

Police arrested and charged a Latino man with stabbing the black man and arrested a black man on charges of attacking the Latinos.

But the conflict wasn't simply a racial battle, according to interviews and court records. It involved misunderstandings over insults and possibly mistaken identity.

The fight and subsequent investigation provide a snapshot of the challenges facing police in a neighborhood with a growing number of Latinos who speak little or no English and a dwindling number of African Americans.

Some Latino residents say the police are cavalier about investigating incidents involving Spanish speakers.

In this case, an unusually determined Latino witness helped investigators identify a suspect who might otherwise have gone uncharged.

Police Maj. Kevin Davis, commander of the district that includes the immigrant-rich communities of Langley Park and Hyattsville, says he's aware of the area's policing difficulties.

"We have challenges that no other police district has. The more we can put it out in the community that we are willing to interact with you in your native language, the better," Davis said.

The melee began about 9:30 p.m. Aug. 1.

Jose Raul Peña, 16, was walking home from a community center, where he'd attended a National Night Out anti-crime cookout. His father, Jose Peña Sr., 34, picked him up in his van along the way.

At their apartment complex, in the 1500 block of Kanawha Street, a Ford Mustang pulled up behind them, the Peñas said in interviews conducted in Spanish. Three or four young black men hopped out of the Mustang, the Peñas said. They said they had never seen the men before.

One walked up to the younger Peña, pointed at him, said, "This is the one," and slugged him in the face, the teenager said. The man grabbed him around the neck and threw him onto the walkway. The teenager lost consciousness.

About this time, the elder Peña said, about a half-dozen black men who were walking nearby surrounded him. Peña said he began fighting two or three of the men, kicking a knife out of an attacker's hands.

A handful of neighbors, black and Latino, rushed to his defense, Peña said. Among them, he said, was Darwin L. Martinez, 16.

"If not for them, we would have been killed," Peña said.

Police arrived quickly. The brawlers scattered. One of the black attackers said, "You were the wrong guys" as he left, Peña said.

The two Peñas said a police officer visited them in the hospital that night and conducted a cursory interview in English. The Peñas said they are more comfortable in Spanish.

Hours later, the elder Peña became indignant when he learned that Martinez had been charged as an adult with attempted murder, carrying a dangerous weapon and second-degree assault.

According to a police charging document, Martinez was standing with a group of friends at 15th Avenue and Kanawha Street when they began to fight several black males. Martinez picked up a knife that one of his friends had dropped and stabbed a man named Henry Whittingham in the chest, the charging document said.

The fight was over an earlier incident involving a member of the Whittingham family, the charging document said. Martinez admitted to officers that he committed the stabbing, the document said.

The older Peña said he called both detectives assigned to the case several times but got no response to his messages.

Two days after the attack, Peña Sr. limped into the District 1 station in Hyattsville and asked for a Spanish-speaking gang unit detective whom he had talked to in the past.

Peña said he wanted to explain that he and his son had been victims and that Darwin had been defending them.

Peña said the desk officer told him that the detective wasn't available and refused to provide the investigator's phone number.

A day later, Peña was interviewed by a Washington Post reporter. When the reporter contacted Davis for response, the police major said he was confident that the most serious crime -- the stabbing -- had been solved, but he also asked for Peña's phone number.

Within three days, detectives had interviewed Peña and his son.

On Aug. 11, detectives obtained an arrest warrant for Omare A. Whittingham, 22, who lives about two blocks from the Peñas.

The police charging document alleges that Whittingham punched and kicked both Peñas and wielded a knife before Jose Peña Sr. kicked it out of his hand. Whittingham was arrested Aug. 26.

Whittingham's brother, Henry Whittingham, 21, was the man who was stabbed in the Aug. 1 brawl. He said he suffered a collapsed right lung and was hospitalized for five days.

He and a younger brother, Gregory Whittingham, 15, said in interviews that a misunderstanding touched off the incident:

Gregory, two younger brothers, and Henry's girlfriend, Helen Ramos -- who is Latina -- were walking past three young Latino men earlier that evening.

The younger brothers were playfully hurling obscenities at each other, but one or more members of the Hispanic group apparently believed the epithets were meant for them. The Whittinghams and Ramos said they believe that the men who attacked Gregory were members of the MS-13 street gang.

The Latino men chased the group. Everyone but Gregory escaped, the Whittinghams said. He was knocked to the ground and beaten, they said.

Gregory said he returned home and enlisted the help of his brothers Henry and Omare, and they drove around looking for the attackers. Gregory pointed out his assailants.

Henry, who has not been charged with a crime, said he, Omare and their cousin exchanged words with the Latino men, then began fighting. Henry, who was stabbed during the fight, said no one in his family had a knife.

Henry said it is possible the Peñas had nothing to do with the confrontation.

"Three of them charged me, but the other two had nothing to do with it," he said.

Peña said he believes detectives followed up only because a reporter was looking into the case.

The Whittinghams said they don't understand why no one has been charged for assaulting Gregory.

Davis said his detectives investigated vigilantly and will continue to probe. "We're doing the best we can here," he said.