missing forum member MITRICE RICHARDSON

[camilla]

missing forum member MITRICE RICHARDSON

missing forum member Mitrice richardson
LADIES SHE WAS A MEMBER OF DIFFERENT FORUMS PLEASE SIGN THE PETITION THE LAST LINK Why would the release her in the middle of the night on foot in a desolate area?
this could have been any one of us

The Disappearance of Mitrice Richardson Written by Jasmyne A. Cannick, (Columnist), on 09-24-2009 00:00Favoured26The Disappearance of Mitrice Richardson
The story of the disappearance of Mitrice Richardson, after the Agoura Hills Los Angeles County Sheriff's released her into the middle of the night ceased to be breaking news the moment first Emmy was awarded and couple took the stage on the premiere of ABC's Dancing with the Stars. But Mitrice is still missing.
According to news reports, 24-year-old Mitrice Richardson of Los Angeles was intoxicated and unable to pay her $89 bill at Geoffrey's restaurant on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu about 10 p.m. Thursday. Sheriff's deputies took her to the Malibu-Lost Hills station where they booked her on suspicion of not paying for the meal and possession of less than an ounce of marijuana. And then just like that, they let her go around 1:25 a.m. on Friday morning citing jail overcrowding. She has yet to be heard from since then.
Any other time, I guess it'd be cause for a celebration if we managed to eat and drink for free, get arrested, and released in the same night. But not this time.
Young, Black, female, and petite, Mitrice was released by the sheriff's into the dead of the night with no money or identification. Worse yet, her mother, Latice Sutton, said a manager at the restaurant where Richardson dined, told her that Richardson was in no condition to drive. Neighbors reported seeing a woman of Mitice's description asleep on a porch but when deputies arrived, she was nowhere to be found.
The disappearance of Mitrice Richardson could have been prevented. If she was in fact intoxicated, jail overcrowded or not, the sheriff's could have had her placed in a drunk tank elsewhere. If they noticed that her behavior wasn't normal, they could have had her taken in for a psych evaluation. If they'd have chosen any number of options given to them instead of just letting her go, Mitrice wouldn't be missing today.
Did race play a role in the sheriff's decision to just let her go? It has to be asked, because I find it hard to believe that the sheriff's would let a young, white, girl, drunk or sober, go off into the middle of night. Who knows who her parents might be?
As the oldest of four children, I have to tell you that when I first became aware of this story, I immediately thought about my two sisters and my younger brother who is developmentally challenged. My sisters, like Mitrice, are grown women, but they're young women. Although they are not bi-polar, they like to party and are sometimes forgetful and could easily forget their wallet or purse and find themselves in a similar situation. My brother, who is also grown at 21, is developmentally challenged. And even though legally he can drink alcohol, he shouldn't. And if he ever did get drunk in public and found himself under arrest, I would hope that the sheriff's would realize that while he is 21, age isn't nothing but a number and that he's really 12 developmentally and would call someone to pick him up instead of letting him go into the middle of the night.
So I definitely feel for Mitrice's family.
This isn't about personal responsibility. This is about professional responsibility. As much as law enforcement is there to enforce the law, they are also there to keep us safe. They failed to do that with Mitrice Richardson. Yes, they enforced the law and arrested her for failure to pay to her restaurant bill, but took no interest in her personal safety when they let her go into the middle of the night.
And while the state is focused on the latest entertainment news and Los Angeles' heat wave, a family is anxiously awaiting word regarding their daughter's well-being. And with every day that passes, knowing Los Angeles the way I do, what do you think the chances of her being found unharmed are?
I find myself thinking a lot about how easy it would be for me to wake up every morning, carefree and happy. It wouldn't take much. I figure if I just stop watching the news, reading newspapers, and wear a pair of the same rose-colored glasses that everyone else seems to be sporting, I'd be well on way to living a life of pure unadulterated sweet ignorant bliss. Yep, it's just that easy.
I know as Black people we've become a bit apathetic and that when it comes to law enforcement, we are used to advocating for the police to let us go-not keep us locked up. However, we can't fall silent on this one. The sheriff's treatment of Mitrice and complete disregard for her safety and personal well-being doesn't deserve a pass. It could have easily been your mother, daughter, or sister missing instead of Mitrice. Join Mitrice's family in demanding accountability and finding Mitrice.

Unexpected and unapologetically Black, Jasmyne Cannick, 31, is a critic and commentator based in Los Angeles who writes about the worlds of pop culture, race, class, sexuality, and politics as it relates to the African-American community. She can be reached at www.jasmynecannick.com.

Last update: 09-24-2009 00:00
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http://www.findmitrice.info/




http://www.change.org/my_change/search?global_keyword=mitrice+Richardson&x=6&y=10

 

[camilla]

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Re: missing forum member Mitrice richardson

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NOW TREATED AS A HOMICIDE [/B]
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lano...ppearance.html

Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca has ordered a homicide investigation into the disappearance of Mitrice Richardson, though officials stressed they have no evidence she is dead.

Baca's decision today allows a three-person sheriff's homicide team to join the Los Angeles Police Department's search for the 24-year-old who mysteriously vanished after walking out of the Lost Hills sheriff's station nearly three months ago.

"He has declared it a homicide investigation. That does not mean the sheriff believes Ms. Richardson is dead. But by opening up a homicide investigation, it does allow the Sheriff's Department to put some of our top investigators on the case," said Steve Whitmore, a department spokesman.

Whitmore said a lieutenant and two detectives would join LAPD detectives already investigating Richardson's Sept. 24 disappearance.

Based on that investigation and the contents of her diaries, authorities believe that days before she was arrested for not paying her bill at a Malibu restaurant, the 24-year-old Cal State Fullerton graduate had gone without sleep for as many as five nights and "had a major mental breakdown," said LAPD Det. Chuck Knolls.



Mental health professionals who read the journals at the request of police say Richardson may have been suffering from severe bipolar disorder, Knolls said.


Police uncovered four or five journals -- small bound books as well as spiral notebooks -- in the car she drove Sept. 16 to Geoffrey's in Malibu, where she behaved bizarrely, spoke in gibberish and ordered a steak dinner and cocktail.

 

[F8THINHIM]

Thank you for posting this, Camilla! I have been wondering what happened to this case.
It just amazes me how, in this place and time, this occurred and just seemed to fade away like a vapor.

 

[prettykinks]

This is so sad!

 

[NorthernCalGal]

I just joined the FB page. I pray that she will return safe to her family.

 

[qns1980]

I just heard this story, after reading it on another forum, my heart and prayers go out to this family. I pray GOD returns Mitrice to her family safely and in good health, ladies lets keep the Richardson family in our prayers, we know the power of prayer!

 

[Marhia]

wow this is so sad, I'm pray for her safe return

 

[EccentricRed]

Bump Bump Bump

 

[Miz_Complexity]

Wow I am saddened to read this I never heard about this story.....

 

[blazingthru]

I didn't forget about this case, I was very upset when I found this info.

Mitrice Richardson's mother files lawsuit against L.A. County, sheriff's officials
June 29, 2010 | 1:58 pm



http://latimes.image2.trb.com/lanews/media/photo/2009-12/51058252.jpgOutside the Los Angeles County office building Tuesday morning, the mother of Mitrice Richardson -- the woman missing since she was released from the Malibu/Lost Hills Sheriff's station in the dark, early morning of Sept. 17, 2009 -- said she was suing the county and sheriff's officials over the arrest and release of her daughter.

Richardson disappeared after being released into the remote Calabasas area without her car, which had been impounded, cellphone and purse. Her disappearance prompted several massive searches and an investigation by the Los Angeles Police Department. After discovering her diaries, police investigators concluded that she was probably suffering a severe form of bipolar disorder.

Richardson was arrested at Geoffrey's restaurant for not paying her bill. The staff told deputies that she was acting "crazy." The sheriff's department has always maintained that Richardson seemed lucid and normal during the several hours she was held at the station.

But on Tuesday, Richardson's mother, Latice Sutton, cited video footage of her daughter in a holding cell that showed her behaving in an infantile manner. According Sutton, who first saw the video in late March, her daughter, at one point, clutches the screen of the holding pen and sways from side to side.

"She's grabbing at a door where she's swinging back and forth," Sutton said. "She's pulling at the back of her hair." She tries to make a call at a pay phone. Unsuccessful, she relinquishes the receiver.

Hours later, Richardson vanished.

In the suit, Sutton cites as negligent the sheriff's department's "failure to give Ms. Richardson a medical or psychiatric evaluation."

"They knew when they got the phone call from Geoffrey's that she was acting strangely," said Sutton's attorney, Leo Terrell, at the media conference outside the county building. "They saw this conduct. They ignored the conduct."

Terrell said that they were also alleging unlawful arrest. "There was an offer to pay the bill. Mitrice Richardson should not have been arrested," Terrell said. Richardson's great-grandmother had offered to give restaurant staffers a credit card over the phone but she was told that she would have to also fax a signature. (The owner of Geoffrey's said later that they requested that because otherwise the credit card company might disallow the charge.)

Although the suit seeks unspecified monetary damages, both Sutton and Terrell said the primary reason for the suit was to give them the right to demand information about the night that Richardson was arrested.

"This magical lawsuit will allow me to obtain every single document in the hands of the Los Angeles Police Department and to depose every officer and detective involved," said Terrell, who stated that he has been representing Sutton pro bono. He also said the suit would enable him to get a copy of the videotape that Sutton was allowed to view but not take.

LAPD officials, who were not involved in her arrest or subsequent release, are not named in this suit. The LAPD was asked to investigate, and two detectives spent four months full time working on the case. They continue to follow leads as they come up.

"I feel as though I am forced at this point to bring this lawsuit to get answers," said Sutton, holding a framed photo of her daughter in cap and gown for her 2008 graduation from Cal State Fullerton.

The suit also alleges wrongful death. When Terrell was asked if he believed Richardson was still alive, he answered, "No."

Her mother, who said she continues to search for her daughter, gave a more complicated answer: "My hope is she's alive…. But based on how long she's been missing, she's either being held and transported or she's dead. I have to face that possibility."

Questions unresolved over handling of Mitrice Richardson remains
March 14, 2012 | 2:38 pm

A yearlong probe failed to resolve a dispute about whether Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies moved the remains of Mitrice Richardson without the permission of the coroner's office, according to a report released Wednesday.

In 2010, a high-ranking coroner's official criticized sheriff's deputies for removing the woman’s remains from a rugged ravine despite his directions not to, saying the deputies' actions may have undermined the thoroughness of the coroner's investigation.

The 24-year-old Richardson drew national media attention in September 2009 when she disappeared after being released from the sheriff's Lost Hills/Malibu station about midnight, without her car, purse or cellphone. Nearly 11 months after her disappearance, her remains were spotted in the remote Malibu Canyon ravine.

After Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter’s comments were published in The Times, the sheriff’s official watchdog agency launched a probe into the dispute.

The Office of Independent Review confirmed the Sheriff’s Department’s account at the time: that initially sheriff’s officials believed that only a skull and possibly a couple of other bones were there, and were given permission by the coroner to move the partial remains.

However, the agency’s review could not determine whether or not sheriff’s officials asked for further permission once the bones were lifted up and it was discovered that Richardson's entire skeleton was there.

The OIR blamed its inability to settle that dispute on poor documentation of on-scene communication between the two agencies.

“The fact that there is a factual dispute about this issue only emphasizes the need in future cases to improve communication,” the report states.

To further confuse matters, in 2010 both the sheriff’s spokesman and the department’s homicide captain acknowledged that sheriff’s deputies did not ask for further permission once more bones were discovered, saying they had to move quickly because of nightfall and the treacherous terrain.

Michael Gennaco, who heads the OIR, said he was prepared to ding the Sheriff’s Department for “a significant lapse” for not asking for that permission.

However, after distributing a draft report, he was notified that a sheriff’s detective who had been on scene said he did in fact tell a coroner’s captain that more remains were found after the bones were moved onto a plastic sheet, and said he was told “whatever you’ve got on plastic, just bring it out.”

Asked about the detective’s contradiction of the sheriff’s longstanding narrative, department spokesman Steve Whitmore said, “He just didn’t offer it up ... which is one of the reasons the OIR did its review, to drill down to exactly what did happen and what didn’t happen.”

A coroner’s captain denied that the detective made the phone call.

 

[MrsHaseeb]

I never knew about this but I am so sorry to hear it.

 

[mz.rae]

Wow this is my first time hearing about this, too too sad.