Michael Robinson's brutal assault in Simi Valley exposes deep racial tensions, as his attorney Jamal Toussain demands a third-party investigation due to suspects' ties to the local police department. While four juveniles face battery charges for the attack involving racial slurs and physical trauma, community outrage highlights a contentious debate over hate crime classifications and historical parallels to the Rodney King trial. Ultimately, this incident underscores the urgent need for systemic accountability and transparent justice in addressing racially motivated violence against Black teens. [Automatically generated summary]
Transcriber: nvidia/parakeet-tdt-0.6b-v2, sat-12l-sm, and large-v3-turbo
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First Time Victim Speaks Out00:04:55
Well that young man is speaking out for the very first time and he says he was a victim of a hate crime and he wants justice.
In multiple videos you can see Michael Robinson being attacked by a group of teenagers outside the Regal Cinema in Simi Valley on Friday night.
They not only beat him but repeatedly called him the N-word.
Am I right then?
At one point Michael picks up a chair to shield himself but it doesn't work.
And they end up pushing my head into a trash can and they start hitting me in the back of my head like this whole time I wasn't getting hit anywhere else but the back of my head.
Michael says he doesn't know the kids who attacked him.
He recalls that they first tried to target one of his smaller friends before turning their rage on him.
Honestly I thought I was going to die.
Because I know what happens when you get hit on the back of your head.
You can have internal bleeding.
You can have brain damage.
When you first saw the videos, what was your reaction?
Disgusted.
Appalled.
Very concerned.
Brittany Martin is Michael's guardian.
He was hunted down and it was very disgusting.
Why do you think that happened?
Well, these kids, this is not the first time of these kids actually doing this.
Brittany alleges that other black and brown teens have also been targeted by the same group of white teenagers.
One of them, the son of a police officer, seen here in this video.
I just want transparency.
I want them to be thorough.
Attorney Jamal Toussain is representing Michael.
If they can't be neutral and impartial, given the alleged attackers and their relationship with this particular department, maybe a third party should come in and investigate and take it over.
Honestly, I don't hate those kids.
I don't feel any animosity towards them.
I pity them, honestly, because what they just did was it was sick.
It was evil.
And honestly, this was not right.
The Simi Valley Police Department issued a statement that says in part, the identified suspects are all juveniles.
The four juveniles have been contacted and were arrested for battery.
This investigation is continuing and will be presented to the Ventura County District Attorney's Office.
Additional charges may be filed.
The family says they hired an attorney to make sure that the appropriate charges are filed, and they are also considering suing the parents of the teenagers involved.
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This is like Cincinnati, but the roles are reversed.
That's what it seems like.
Yeah, that's what it seems like.
But you got to do your research these days.
Yeah.
You can't just blindly follow the media because they twist things.
Yeah, so there was a city council meeting and some more facts come out.
Oh, some more facts came out.
They conveniently left them out in this first video.
Check this out.
Neil and Signaris live in Simi Valley with the reaction following tonight's city council meeting.
Chio?
Juan Susie, good evening to you both.
That's right.
This all started on Friday night outside of a movie theater.
Fast forward to tonight at City Hall.
And the main headline here was disappointment and anger.
One by one, residents got up there and expressed loud and clear what they want to happen next.
Just hearing about what happened at Regal sounded like something that was a hundred years ago, but it happened three days ago.
A fiery and passionate city council meeting in Simi Valley tonight as the community reacts to the now viral videos of a brutal beatdown late Friday night.
To the figures with actual authority, get these aggressors off the streets as they've proved they've proven to be nothing but unremorseful.
Resident after resident coming to the podium, pleading for the council to hold Simi Valley police officers accountable and for the district attorney to file hate crime charges.
Racism is taught in the home.
So whoever the parents of these kids are, you are raising them that way.
Police say two 18-year-olds were hurt in the attack.
One white, the other.
Did you hear that?
One was white.
One was white.
Hmm.
This friend was white.
He's got a white guardian.
And the way that black kid talks and carries himself, he's not a thug.
He's not a thug.
Yeah, not ghetto.
He sounds very pleasant to me.
He's got a positive decorum about him.
Right, right, right.
Right?
So, but with all the beeps, you can't really hear what they're saying.
Racism Taught in the Home00:07:57
Are they cursing or are they calling him the dreaded?
The dreaded most awful word in the world.
Yeah.
I don't know.
But it makes it seem that way with the beeps.
That's what I, it's what it sounds like.
I heard nah, but then you rest of us cut off.
So I don't know what they're saying, really.
The news said it was slurs.
Yeah.
So anyway, let's keep this going.
Michael Robinson is black, but Robinson's attorney, Jamal Tucson, says his client was specifically targeted.
He was the only African American, and that's why this is a targeted hate crime.
As they were attacking him, they were yelling racial slurs.
It is crystal clear what transpired.
Okay, if they're actually using the n-word, that doesn't justify.
If they're using it, wait a minute, hold up now.
He just said it's crystal clear.
They was used to the n-word while it was whooping.
But black people say that same, the same slur, and they take other people's life, but we don't deem them hate crimes.
Why is it a hate crime when whites do it?
And it's enhanced when a white person do it, and it's not enhanced when a black person does it.
It's a double standard.
No, it's not.
And it needs conduct.
That's not double standard.
They're white, Kevin.
What's wrong with that?
That's a double standard.
You sound like just leave Peterson here.
Don't tell me about that.
That's it, gone.
No, look, if a black person is in the commission of a crime and they're using that word over and over, committing a heinous act against another person of color and they use that word, it's not considered a hate crime, but it's a hate crime when a white person says it.
Well, this is what I hear from other black people.
We use that word towards each other.
It's a term of endearment.
It's like saying buddy.
So even when we committing a crime against you, hey, I got a buddy.
I got to do this, buddy.
I got to do this, buddy.
That's what it means.
I'm sorry, buddy, but you had just coming, buddy.
That's what they mean?
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's crazy.
Yeah, that's that.
But, Kevin, if they're actually using the N-word, but I've been around white kids that say that word a lot.
And they're using the same likeness as a person of color.
It's not derogatory.
Yeah, it's not derogatory.
I get that.
But then, but if they say that word in the commission of a crime, automatically, it should be.
No, I don't think so.
The white kid that says that word, he listened to nothing but black music.
He dates nothing but black women.
But when he uses that word in the community.
Do you think those kids that did that date none but black women?
I didn't say that.
I'm just saying.
You just said that.
Yeah, but I'm just trying to make a point.
I'm trying to make a point.
Hey, Kevin, be objective.
I'm being objective.
Be objective.
It's a double standard, right?
You can't call nobody the N-word while you're whooping about it.
It depends.
That makes it a...
Is it the hard ER or is it?
I'm pretty sure it's the hard ER.
Of course.
That's more effective.
Why are you going to use the L then?
You got to go with the good E. Right, I'm just saying that is obvious.
But what if it doesn't end in a hard ER?
You see what I'm saying?
I see what you're saying.
Okay, then.
I see what you're saying.
I'm being objective, right?
Yeah, okay.
But I highly doubt Kevin Dave was using that.
I don't know.
We can't hear it.
They keep beeping everything.
Fire.
One of the videos shows the victim trying to stave off the crowd with a chair before making a run for it.
The aggressors can be heard shouting racial slurs as they catch up with him.
Tucson says Robinson is still recovering physically and emotionally from what happened.
He has a broken tooth.
He has an ongoing concussion to which he still has headaches to this day.
He doesn't remember the entire incident, as well as he had damaged his back and spine.
Police say the teams report of two groups with a history of altercations, but the department confirms one of the suspects is related to a police officer.
Related.
Kevin, family member.
Yeah, that police officer could be a cousin.
Could be an uncle.
You don't think they made it seem like his dad's the police officer.
Kevin, it's still all the same thing.
I know that he's done this stuff before.
And in the previous video, he's like, we run this.
What are you talking about?
I'm just saying.
You don't think he's trying to stay objective?
No, you're not.
You're saying he's emboldened because who his family is.
Yeah, that's what it appears.
Yeah.
Yeah, I agree with you.
Yeah.
But I'm saying objective.
No, you ain't.
No, I'm not making any bias.
No, no.
I'm not making any assumptions.
Something that residents tonight argue represents a more troubling long-term issue.
When we ignore or excuse this kind of behavior, we're sending a message that racism is allowed to exist in our community.
We can't let that happen.
Police have said that relationship has no bearing on this investigation.
Oh, come on.
Come on.
Has no bearing.
I wish I could hear the video with no beats.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure they're using the N-word.
But the employees' family member is cooperating.
Now, the community waits to see whether the investigation delivers the answers and action they're demanding.
Don't offer your community empty placations.
Take action.
Robinson's attorney says he's hoping for a transparent investigation, including for all the suspects to face what he says are appropriate charges.
In the meantime, Simi Valley Police say the investigation is ongoing.
Hey, so what happened in Cincinnati?
They're not being tried with any charges.
And because of that, I don't think nothing's going to be charged.
They're not going to charge these kids.
It depends.
Plus, they're juveniles.
Nothing's going to happen to juveniles.
I think it's going to boil down to boil down to the N-word.
Which one did they use?
Did they use the hard ER or did they use GA?
If they're saying GA, I don't think it'll be.
But if they're using a hard ER, yeah.
I still don't think they're going to bring hate crime charges.
They're not going to do that.
I wouldn't be surprised.
Just because what happened in Cincinnati?
Yeah.
Everything has an impact on everything.
And like, you know.
Yeah, but those people are people of color.
Yeah.
They're hard on white folks.
They like to make white folks.
They like to make an example out of white folks.
I've been in Simi Valley.
Simi Valley is what?
California, right?
Yeah, that's where they let those cups off for beating Ronnie Keith.
I don't think it wasn't.
It was Simeon Valley.
No.
Yeah.
Let me look that up.
Yeah, Simi Valley.
Let me look it up.
Yep.
Rodney.
No, I think that's where the court case was there.
Rodney.
Yeah, they picked a jury from Simeon Valley.
California.
I think you're right.
I think Simeon Valley.
Ventura County.
Specifically, the jury included 10 white members, one Latino, and one Asian individual.
This location was chosen at the trial, then you due to concerns about potential biases.
That's Ventura County.
Oh, look, residents from Simi Valley, a city in Ventura County.
Yeah, you're absolutely right.
Nothing's going to happen.
If those cops can get away with what they did to Rodney King, they ain't going to do nothing to these kids.
They ain't going to do nothing to no teenagers.
But times have changed.
No, not you take those same police officers.
I think they have that.
Shut up.
You take those same police officers that did that horrible, heinous crime against Rodney King.
If that happens today, those cops are convicted.
Well, those cops are convicted of that crime.
Oh, you would, I don't know.
I think we're coming to fall away.
I think everything's getting actually worse.
It's actually getting worse.
Yeah, it's going to boil down to what N-word would they use.
Because a lot of kids from all demographics, all ethnicities, say that word over and over.