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Crime & Safety

Mother's Anguished Plea to City Council Draws Attention

Kristin Land thinks her son's assault was a hate crime, the Sonoma police say it was gang-related.

Last Friday night, Kristin Land’s teenage son and some of his friends were confronted by apparent gang members at El Verano Elementary
School. Deputies were apparently called, and as the Press Democrat reported this morning,

The deputies found that the teens seemed to have been drinking and apparently were set upon by gang members known to hang out in that area.

One of the beaten teens and his mother say the community needs to know that what happened at the school was far more serious and disturbing.

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A check of the Sonoma County Sheriff's Office logs records the incident as a "Fight," as Land said in her comments to the Council, reported at 10:48 p.m., and the disposition marked as "contacted."

City police logs for the evening of March 29/ March 30 show no similar activity in the area that night, aside from a traffic stop at Hwy. 12 and Siesta at 11:38,  and another one at Riverside and Petaluma Ave, at 1:06 a.m.

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But three nights later, Kristin Land, a Sonoma real estate agent, appeared in the opening Public Comment section of the City Council April 1 meeting with her disturbing tale. Clearly emotional, and at times with difficulty, Land described her frustration with official response to what she believed was a hate crime – an incident brushed off by the police.

“Was he the victim of a random act of violence, or a hate crime?” she asked.  “I don’t know. There was no investigation.”

Instead, Land said, “When I addressed this with police, they told me this was gang-related, that this was their turf, and to take my son home, talk to him about being gay, and about hanging out in this side of town."

Shortly after her comments – you can view them on the video record of the meeting approximately between 2:00 and 4:45 on the tape – Mayor Ken Brown asked her to get in touch with the city clerk for follow-up. Sonoma County Chief Deputy District Attorney 'Bud' McMahon was there as well, and gave Land his card, and the City Manager contacted Police Chief Bret Sackett about the incident.

The Press Democrat quotes Chief Sackett as saying, "It just didn't appear to be motivated by his sexual orientation, so it didn't have the appearance of a hate crime."

Land’s 18-year old son, who asked not to be identified, was quoted as saying, "The cops refused to say it was a hate crime because I wasn't the only one who was beaten up."

The Press Democrat article concludes,

Land said Wednesday that she and her son and the rest of her family had a mostly congenial conversation with Sackett.

"I challenged him on (the authorities) doing their job and he challenged me on doing my job."

Sonoma Valley Patch has been contacted by Land and the Sonoma Police about her story and will be following up in coming articles.

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