Orange County’s DA Todd Spitzer dropped the charges made against two transgender people who used stun guns and pepper sprays at a recent bar fight in Huntington Beach. Earlier, Judge at California Superior Court Andre Manssourian formally dismissed the charges made against Karina Valenzuela-Vasquez and Noelle Matthyssen due to a lack of evidence. After carefully reviewing the evidence available here, Spitzer dismissed the case as he did not feel that things could be substantiated in a way that anyone rational accepts the guilt.
During a recent preliminary hearing, the cops involved in this case admitted that they made basic mistakes during the probe. At the same time, a law enforcement officer admitted the use of the offensive term ‘tranny’ at the rooftop bar.
The fight happened outside the bar named Hurricanes last October. As per testimony, the transgender people were present at the location and looking at the street commotion and a woman and a man, noticed them, addressed them offensively and dared them to start a physical confrontation. When this transgender couple attempted to leave the spot, the man pushed one of them to the road. Then, the victims took out the Tasers and pepper sprays around the time cops showed up.
Three cops from Huntington Beach responded to this incident. In the hearing, the cops acknowledged that they presented incomplete and faulty reports without mentioning physical attacks against the transgender people and the couple’s injuries, plus their seemingly bigoted harassment complaints.
Valenzuela-Vasquez’s public defender Van-Anh To asked cop Tyler DeTrinidad why he failed to mention in his official report that one transgender person told him that one of the alleged perpetrators sucker-punched her. In response to the question, DeTrinidad said that he forgot to do so. In his testimony, DeTrinidad stated that he did not inform supervisors or other cops of Valenzuela-Vasquez getting punched or attempt to look into her complaint.
Cop Joseph Giles, too, testified in the hearing. There, Giles stated that he saw a video recording of an onlooker that showed the male victim taunting and shoving Valenzuela-Vasquez at the fight scene. Nevertheless, he did not mention the piece of evidence in his official report or show it to other officers. Alex Ngo served as the public defender of Matthyssen. After the hearing, while Judge at California Superior Court Scott Cooper found enough evidence for a trial, Spitzer dropped the charges.
