Day laborer recalls fear after beating

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Monterey Herald

Day laborer recalls fear after beating
Morning started with promise of work, ended in assault in abandoned building
By CLAUDIA MELÉNDEZ SALINAS
Herald Salinas Bureau
Article Last Updated: 08/16/2007 01:27:07 AM PDT



Glenn Blevins talks with Public Defender Susannah McNamara at his arraignment Wednesday in the beating of a Seaside day laborer. (ORVILLE MYERS/The Herald)



"You come with the hope that you're going to get ahead, that you're going to give your family a better life," says Artemio Santiago Garcia. "You never imagine somebody is going to hurt you just like that." (VERN FISHER/The Herald)

Artemio Santiago Garcia arrived at 6:15 a.m. Friday at the spot where day laborers gather in Seaside, hoping that after two days without work, he would get lucky.

The 30-year-old man, a native of Oaxaca, Mexico, had seen about four other men leave for jobs before it was his turn. Then, about 8:30 a.m., a white man with straight hair, driving a reddish truck, arrived at the parking lot.

More than a dozen men immediately flocked to him, but Santiago Garcia was closest. The man made the sign of "one" with his index finger, a gesture that Santiago Garcia returned. The man told him "let's go," one of the few words of English he understands. Santiago Garcia thought, "I'm getting a job," and he jumped in the truck eagerly.

Rather than cleaning houses or mowing lawns, what he got was a severe beating to the head and upper body that made him lose consciousness and could have ended tragically, he believes, had he not come to and found a pipe to scare his assailant.


Read more: http://www.montereyherald.com/ci_6636498?nclick_check=1

[YOY]

1. The look on Glenn Blevins face in the 1st pic is priceless

"Yuh mean I cahn't beat Mexicans? It's 'gainst th' law??? Whut's this cuntry commin' to???"

Rot in jail scumbag. It takes a certain kind of lowlife to think the migrant workers are the problem in this situation.