四 川 铁 FourRiverIron

I am still angry about how the Mesa pigs murdered Mario Madrigal Jr. 8 or 9 years ago.

Mario Madrigal Jr had threatened to commit suicide. Sadly Mario's parents were dumb enough to call the police thinking they could prevent his suicide. Instead the Mesa pigs murdered Mario Madrigal Jr.

If a loved one or friend ever needs help the last thing in the world you want to do is call the police. The police almost always make mountains out of mole and turn trivial crimes into the crime of the century. And of course in Mario's case they killed him instead of preventing him from committing suicide.

Part of the problem is the police are trained to view the people they claim to protect as enemies. Shoot first and ask questions later.

Sadly the Mesa pigs are still claiming that that did nothing wrong when they murdered Mario Madrigal Jr. And with that sick attitude nothing has changed and the police will certainly murder more people who fail to "respect the authority" of a badge and a gun like 14 year old Mario failed to do.

Source

Mesa father's life on downward spiral since son's death

Mesa man's teen son killed by police in 2003

by Jim Walsh - Jul. 27, 2011 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

For five days last week, Mario Madrigal Sr. sat in jail on a domestic-violence charge. With only $400 left on his credit-card limit, he was unable to raise another $100 to make bail.

It was a rock-bottom moment in a life that has spiraled downward since the fatal shooting of his 15-year-old son, Mario Jr., by Mesa police nearly eight years ago.

Madrigal's portion of the multimillion-dollar settlement his family received is gone, two marriages are in tatters, and he now faces a raft of new legal woes in addition to unresolved disputes left over from his son's case.

Madrigal's life began to unravel Aug. 23, 2003, when he and his wife called police to say their son had a knife and was suicidal.

Police said the boy, who was shot 10 times by three officers, lunged at them in the family carport, but family attorneys said they had amassed evidence that the officers overreacted and the shooting was unnecessary.

Every year on the anniversary of his son's death, Madrigal led a protest at the Mesa Police Department. He was at the center of dozens of news conferences, marches and media interviews as he crusaded for justice.

After a six-year legal battle, the family received a $3 million settlement - with no admission of wrongdoing by police.

In interviews from jail after his arrest and from his Mesa home this week, Madrigal said his portion of the money was gone, consumed by divorce, legal battles and lawyer bills.

"They kill me in a different way," Madrigal said. "That settlement, the only consequences to my life is more problems, problems and problems. The money didn't bring me anything but problems."

Those problems landed him in jail on July 18, after Madrigal found himself once again embroiled with Mesa police.

He was arrested after bringing a loaded gun into his wife's beauty salon during an argument over some paperwork needed for their impending divorce.

Madrigal and Raiza Bracho have been married for a year and have been separated for two months.

According to a Mesa police report, Madrigal put a loaded 9mm handgun on a counter in the salon and said he wanted Bracho "to kill me or I will kill you."

Madrigal said he did not remember making that statement, but he said he had been drinking the night before and had downed a beer before the 8:30 a.m. incident.

The police report said Madrigal was legally intoxicated, recording a 0.135 percent blood-alcohol reading more than four hours after the incident.

The police report said Bracho, Madrigal's second wife, grabbed the gun from the counter, put it in a drawer, then pushed Madrigal out of the way and fled with a co-worker to a nearby insurance office and locked the door.

Bracho, who suffers from a heart condition, obtained an order of protection against her husband, according to court records. She declined comment on the incident, saying, "I can't take it."

Madrigal said he felt "humiliated" by his stay in jail. He denied he had a drinking problem and said he was simply frustrated by Bracho's refusal on several occasions to hand over the paperwork so he could file for their divorce. He said she started crying when he walked into the beauty salon that morning.

He was released from jail after prosecutors determined that his actions did not rise to a felony level because he never pointed the gun at his wife.

Madrigal said his marriage to Bracho began to fall apart because of financial problems and the emotional fallout from his son's death. He said his first marriage ended for many of the same reasons. He had hoped his second marriage would be a fresh start.

When he divorced his first wife, Martha, in June of last year, a family court judge awarded him a $300,000 share of the $3 million settlement, court records show. Martha Madrigal received $300,000, and their son Bryant, now 17, received $240,000.

Madrigal said he used his share to buy a house. He also said he spent $40,000 to buy Bracho, a hair stylist, the salon she operates. He also bought a used car.

By the time Bracho left him, Madrigal said, he had $68 left from the settlement and has been living paycheck to paycheck from his job as a postal carrier.

A major portion of the settlement remains tied up in legal disputes.

Court records show the lead attorney on the case, Ray Slomski, received 40 percent of the settlement, or $1.2 million. Slomski was hired after the initial attorney on the case, Edward Fitzhugh, removed himself after a series of disputes with the Madrigal family. Fitzhugh is still trying to collect $695,000 for work he performed, including arranging for an "all star" cast of expert witnesses from across the country to testify on the family's behalf.

Fitzhugh said he had a stormy history with the family, being hired, fired and then rehired.

Fitzhugh said he was ready to accept $300,000 to settle his claim, but Martha Madrigal objected. The matter is still pending in court, and the $695,000 sits in a trust fund administered by Slomski, who has said in court filings that he wanted to wash his hands of the whole affair.

As for Madrigal, he too wishes to move on.

He's trying to hang on to his job in the wake of his arrest. He'd also like to sell his house and get on with his life - anywhere but Mesa or Maricopa County.

He said he was still grieving and was receiving counseling.

"We made a mistake by calling the police," he said. "We didn't expect the police to kill our son."

He wishes the case had gone to trial so he could have had a jury verdict instead of a settlement.

"Money helps a little bit in life," he said, "but it doesn't mean you are going to be happy in life."

Source

Mesa to pay $3 million over 2003 police shooting of teen

by Jim Walsh - Jun. 11, 2009 12:00 AM

The Arizona Republic

After six years of controversy and mounting legal costs, Mesa agreed to settle a federal lawsuit by paying $3 million to the family of a 15-year-old boy who was shot and killed by police.

It is the largest legal settlement in city history, but it did little to settle the debate over whether the shooting of Mario Madrigal Jr. by three police officers was justified or an unnecessary panic reaction.

About the only thing all the sides could agree on is that they were glad the marathon case is finally over.

Ray Slomski, an attorney for the Madrigals, said the large settlement makes a powerful statement and reinforces the family's position that officers gunned down the teenager without reason.

Mesa Police Chief George Gascón, the Mesa Police Association and a City Council member said the settlement proves nothing and was merely a calculated business decision to stop the city's losses. [ Yea, we all know it is IMPOSSIBLE for cops to make mistakes or commit crimes. Anybody that thinks a police officer committed a crime or even made a mistake is a malcontent that should be in jail. Well at least that's what the cops think. ]

As the case lingered in U.S. District Court with no end in sight, Mesa had already spent nearly $600,000 on its defense and needed to remove the uncertainty of an unpredictable jury verdict.

Mario Madrigal Sr. and the boy's mother, Martha, witnessed the shooting on Aug. 25, 2003. They had called police, reporting that Madrigal Jr. was intoxicated, was brandishing a knife and they feared he was suicidal.

Madrigal was shot 10 times by three officers, who said the boy lunged at them with a knife.

The family "wanted others to know that they were telling the truth from the beginning," Slomski said. "Their son had problems, but he didn't attack the officers. He did not deserve to be shot."

But Gascón and Sgt. Fabian Cota, the union leader, both said the officers were justified in shooting Madrigal and committed no wrongdoing.

"Unfortunately, even when police officers act appropriately, as they did in this case, tragic outcomes sometimes occur," Gascón said in a prepared statement. "I hope this resolution provides closure to a very difficult situation for the officers, the Madrigal family, and others involved."

Mesa council member Dennis Kavanaugh estimated that there was a 65 to 70 percent chance that Mesa would have prevailed in court, but he said the risk of a large verdict for the Madrigals was still too high.

Two of the officers involved have taken medical retirements. Cota said stress from the shooting contributed to them leaving the force.

Marc Steadman, an assistant city attorney, wrote in court records that Madrigal cursed at police "and came at Officer (Mark) Beckett, slashing at him with a knife."

Officers Richard Henry and Sgt. Tracey Dean fired "because they believed Mario would stab Officer Beckett if he was not stopped," records said.

But Slomski said physical and scientific evidence proved that Madrigal was hit by a Taser in his family's kitchen and was falling to the ground through a doorway to a carport when he was shot in the back.

Madrigal Sr., who led protests each year outside Mesa police headquarters to mark the anniversary of his son's death, could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

A friend who answered Madrigal Sr.'s cellphone said the family was participating in a prayer vigil and that he was reflecting on his son's death.