SANTA CRUZ — A 46-year-old Black man, reportedly a traveling musician hailing from Jamaica, remained hospitalized Monday recovering from serious but not life-threatening injuries after a violent weekend altercation under investigation as a possible race-based hate crime.
Santa Cruz Police Department Lt. Warren Barry said a motive for the reportedly unprovoked attack, occurring around 2:30 a.m. Sunday in front of an Ocean Street motel near the Highway 17 onramp, remained unclear.
However, an eye-witness account of the encounter between Chavez and the victim “strongly leaned, in our belief, towards a hate crime,” Barry said.
“Any acts of threats or violence or property damage, harassment, intimidation or other crimes motivated by hate or bias, we look at very seriously and we give them a high priority,” Barry said. “Based on the witness saying it was an unprovoked attack, the racial epithets used, the serious injuries that the victim sustained and the comments and actions made by the suspect, we are investigating it as a hate crime.”
Police are declining to verify the victim’s identity in an effort to protect the man’s privacy. Barry said the injured man, however, was conscious and recovering.
“He might be released later tonight or tomorrow,” Barry said. “He has a fractured orbital and a laceration to his head requiring stitches.”
Responding to a Santa Cruz Police Department post on its Facebook page, a commenter identified himself as a friend to the victim, saying his name is Owen Ricardo Brown but goes by “Al Pancho.” According to his Facebook page, Owen is a Jamaican singer, deejay, songwriter, producer and owner of the record label Kingston Wall Music.
“Inspired by his Rastafari beliefs, Al Pancho seeks to break through racial boundaries, unite people, and promote harmony through music,” the page’s “about me” section reads.
Barry said the Santa Cruz Police Department receives an average of about three reported hate crimes a year, though not all reports reach the level of being formally designated as a hate crime. He said, however, that the department recognizes that these types of crimes — including violence related to race, sexual orientation, religion, gender, disability and more are “seriously underreported,” often out of fear.
On the morning of the attack, police investigators arrested Cody Chavez, a 32-year-old San Jose resident. Chavez had yet to make his initial appearance in court Monday. He remained in custody at the Santa Cruz County Jail in lieu of $50,000 bail on suspicion of felony battery causing serious injury, a felony civil rights violation resulting in violent injury and resisting arrest.
In 2015, Chavez stood trial and was convicted in Santa Cruz County of a hit-and-run while under the influence causing an injury, plus battering a police officer, enhanced by a previous prison term and a past DUI charge. Chavez was sentenced to six months in San Quentin State Prison for that 2012 case.
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June 30, 2020 at 06:30AM
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Victim of suspected Santa Cruz hate crime recovering - Santa Cruz Sentinel
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