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Mob mentality not unusual, experts say
June 15, 2006 By JOE VARGO, IMRAN VITTACHI and MARY BENDER
The Press-Enterprise
The young people who witnesses say snapped photos with cell phones Saturday of a Moreno Valley teenager dying from a gunshot acted reprehensibly, but experts say their actions were nothing more than a basic human response with a new technological twist.
People have collected memorabilia and mementos from morbid death scenes for centuries. Roman guards gambled for Jesus' robe at Calvary, and spectators dipped their handkerchiefs into John Dillinger's blood after the gangster was shot dead 70 years ago.
Bystanders ripped a sleeve off Abraham Lincoln's coat after he was assassinated in 1865.
Brooke Nicole McKinney, 15, was fatally shot late Saturday while attending a middle-school graduation party on the Moreno Valley's south side, just east of March Air Reserve Base.
Police said about 20 people -- teenagers and young adults -- were at the party when a dispute broke out among guests. Shortly afterward, 10 shots rang out.
Brooke, a freshman at Valley View High School, died about 45 minutes later.
As she lay in the driveway of a home near the party, at least four neighbors who witnessed the chaos said they saw several young people photographing Brooke's body with their cell phones.
And while police officers did cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the girl, a bystander kicked and beat one of them.
'What Am I Thinking?'
The Moreno Valley incident illustrates a pack mentality at work, said Eric Pierson, associate professor of communications at the University of San Diego.
People who misbehaved gave license for others to follow suit. Advances in technology sparked the actions, Pierson said.
"Before, if you wanted to do something this gruesome, you had to find a camera and make sure you had film. Somewhere in that process, your humanity would say, 'What am I thinking?' " Pierson said.
With instant access to cell-phone cameras and other technology, that period of reflection is gone, he said.
Confusing Scene
Police officers and neighbors painted a confusing and chaotic scene in the moments after Brooke was shot about 11:45 p.m. in the 24600 block of Freeport Drive.
Residents called in reports of shots being fired and of someone being hit by a car, Moreno Valley Police Chief Bill Di Yorio said.
A man who was in his home was struck in the chest by a stray bullet that pierced a window. He had been rushing downstairs to check on his mother after hearing the gunshots.
Octavio Macias, 22, was still recovering at Riverside County Regional Medical Center n Moreno Valley, his brother, Juan Macias, said Tuesday.
A woman at the home where the party was held declined repeated requests for comment.
Witnesses Jesus Covarrubias and Richard Castro, interviewed over two days at separate locations, were adamant that they had seen people point cell phones at Brooke and snap photos.
Covarrubias, 32, said he ran to the scene and was shocked to see people taking pictures.
"You feel like, 'What are they doing?' ... 'Why are they doing that?' " Covarrubias said.
Castro, 30, lives next to the house where Brooke fell, a home across the street and a few doors down from where the party was held. He said he saw five to eight teenagers photographing her with cell phones.
"There's a girl dead or dying, and they're concerned about taking pictures? It was pathetic," said Castro, who dialed 911 after hearing shots.
He rejected suggestions that the youths were trying to help the girl or use the screens of their phones to light up her face.
"They were putting their cell phones close to her. They were only there for two seconds, and they took off running," he said.
Police, who were nearby, arrived within a minute of the call.
There was little blood, and Brooke's injuries appeared consistent with those of being hit by a car, Di Yorio said. Authorities did not know the girl had been shot until coroner's officials took X-rays, he said.
The crowd turned angry and attacked officers Bill Mooney and Cory Tomps, who attempted cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the girl.
Mooney was punched and kicked by one reveler. Other partygoers screamed at them to save Brooke, Di Yorio said.
"They had to call in more officers for crowd control," he said.
Di Yorio said police did not arrest the assailant because they did not want to divert from their lifesaving efforts.
He could not confirm whether guests took pictures of Brooke but is asking eyewitnesses with photographic evidence to turn it over to detectives.
Authorities have not made any arrests or identified a motive for the slaying, saying that many revelers fled as emergency workers rolled to the scene.
Cell-Phone Mentality
Robert Nash Parker, professor of sociology at UC Riverside, said the use of cameras could have been a form of voyeurism or a way to protect onlookers from the reality of the incident.
Parker, director of the Robert Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies, drew parallels between the crowd's reaction and the "bystander apathy" that gripped 38 neighbors while Kitty Genovese was being stabbed to death in New York in 1964.
He also noted guards photographing images of soldiers taking part in criminal activity at Abu Graib, which led to courts-martial and convictions for some of the participants.
"That picture is another way of distancing yourself from it. 'It's not really happening in front of me. It's happening through this little window,' " Parker said.
He wondered whether the teens thought their cell-phone cameras could be their ticket to notoriety or riches in this era when an exclusive photo of a celebrity's new baby can fetch millions.
He mentioned the videotaping of a 1991 beating by Los Angeles police of a motorist stopped for a traffic violation.
"Rodney King gets videotaped, and that videotape becomes a major cultural icon," Parker said. "People think: 'Maybe if I take this picture, I'll get on the 'Today Show.' "
'Private Vultures'
Those who took photos of Brooke committed no crime, law-enforcement officials and constitutional-law experts agree.
Their actions, however distasteful, are protected by privacy laws, and there is no statute preventing people from using their personal cell phones to capture even disturbing images in public places.
Robert Pugsley, a professor at Southwestern Law School in Los Angeles, likened the picture takers to "private vultures" but said the only possible crime they face is leaving the area without giving their statements to police. That could hinder the investigation, he said.
Pugsley said that other partygoers were under no obligation to rescue or treat Brooke.
"It's one of those situations where there ought to be a law against it, but there isn't," said Ingrid Wyatt, a spokeswoman for the Riverside County district attorney's office. "Is nothing sacred? What were they thinking? It's immoral but not illegal."
Brooke's uncle, Moreno Valley resident Randy Walters, said he was at first dismayed by reports of cell-phone pictures. But Walters, whose family worships at Koinonia Evangelical Center in Riverside, said he forgives them and whoever is responsible for Brooke's death.
"God's judgment is a lot worse than mine could be," he said. "God's judgment is forever."
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