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- This is not a black or white, city or country problem. This is a horrible problem that must be changed with lawmakers and I intend to do everything in my power to make it happen. It sickens me that any comments are being made about Matice's character:
1 She hasn't been convicted of anything
2 She is missing!
I am a white mom living in rural CA. My son is a 20 year old college junior with excellent grades and no criminal history - a "great kid" according to all his teachers and coaches. He has a diagnosed mental illness, for which he had successfully received treatment for many years. For some unknown reason, perhaps a medication error or a seizure, he had a severe mental break in a matter of a few hours. Police in the Northern CA college town arrested him because he was acting erratic. HE DID NOT COMMIT A CRIME OR INJURE ANYONE. They took him at abut 3 in the afternoon last Sunday, transported him to a town he had never been to, held him for about 6 or 7 hours and released him into the dark, in the midst of a psychotic episode, with no phone, wallet, money, phone call or ride. He wandered in the dark for who knows how long. Its a long horrible story but only due to a good samaritan did we find out where he was. The jail never called, nor did they call mental health, which is what they should have done when they verified he was not drunk or on drugs.
Thank God he is safe. My prayers are with Matice and her family that they have a good ending, but it is wrong to release anyone, hardened streetwise criminal or young naive kid into the darkness with no resources.
I had no experience at all with the jail or criminal system before this week (9/21/09 was the date of our incident). I am devastated because I have been a law abiding citizen who respected law enforcement and taught my children to do so as well, before this week. I now know that they take EVERYTHING away from you in jail - we still have not gotten all my son's property back. How can you make a phone call or call a cab with no money or phone? What in the hell is even open after 9:00pm in most small towns? They didn't even give my son his shirt! Furthermore he was so delusional, he couldn't remember is own address, much less his phone number.
It should be against the law to discharge anyone from jail during non-business and/or non-daylight hours, or if there appears to be any impairment (mental illness, intoxication or other mental handicap)without making pickup arrangements.
In my sons case, no one ever tried to call me. In his state, mental health should have been called if they couldn't reach family. This should be done for the safety of the person being released and the general public. How would you like to know that a criminal is wandering in the dark with no options near your home? Doesn't that make it more likely they will commit a crime out of desperation?
Anyone who is upset about this should call their legislator. Believe me, this could happen to anyone's child. It doesn't matter if they are 9 or 19 or 29 or 39 - they are still someone's baby. - Reply to this comment
- I FEEL THAT THE POLICE DEPT. HAS SOMETHING TO DO WITH HER DISAPPEARANCE. HOW COULD THEY ARREST HER AND LEAVE HER CAR AND CELL PHONE MILES AWAY AT THE RESTAURANT AND KNOWING SHE HAD NO MONEY BECAUSE SHE OBVIOUSLY COULDN'T PAY THE BILL, SO SHE COULDN'T USE A PAY PHONE OR CALL A TAXI. THEY DIDN'T CARE BECAUSE SHE WAS A "BEAUTIFUL" BLACK WOMAN. IF IT WAS ANY WHITE WOMAN SHE WOULD NOT HAVE BEEN RELEASED INTO THE NIGHT AT 1AM IN THE MORNING WITH NO KIND OF RESOURCES AT HER DISPOSAL IN AN UNFAMILIAR AREA. THE POLICE KNEW ALL OF THIS. AND LASTLY WHAT ABOUT THE 3 DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF THEIR EXPLANATIONS. FIRST THEY HAD NO ROOM THAN SECOND SHE COULD SLEEP IN THE LOBBY AND THIRD SHE COULD HAVE A JAIL CELL. ONCE HER MOTHER CALLED, EVEN IF IT HAD TO BE AGAINST HER WILL THEY SHOULD HAD DETAINED HER IN A CELL UNTIL HER MOTHER PICKED HER UP. IT DOESN'T MATTER IF SHE WAS "STREET SAVVY" OR NOT, SHE WAS A YOUNG AFRICAN AMERICAN WOMAN IN A PREDOMINATELY WHITE AREA. THAT IS UNSAFE IN ITSELF. THEY SAY WE ALWAYS PLAY THE RACE CARD BUT WE DON'T THEY DO. THEY DON'T EXPERIENCE PREJUDICE OR RACISM, WE DO.
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- Im thinking she was waiting for a woman who never showed up who was supposed to pay for her and was stood up. Does anyone know how she was dressed? Maybe the police just thought she was a hooker who knew her way around
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- I lived in Malibu a while back, and was aware of a drug rapist there who moved to Denver later -- but at least some of his old friends (and probably the men who originally taught him how to use rape drugs) are still in Malibu. Malibu does have at least a handful of undesirables, and yes, sexual predators can come from all walks of life, maybe even policemen. But first people need some good leads. Often when the real evidence finally comes out, all the speculation was wrong.
I'm looking at this article and it seems to be saying she was released in the valley, not Malibu. Am I mistaken in thinking this sounds like Agoura Hills? Why doesn't anyone specifically say the town or street where she was last seen? People really need to get together and start networking with neighbors, make sure that everyone knows she's missing, and see if anyone remembers seeing her. She may have accepted a ride from someone, maybe someone saw her at a gas station. It's tough because not many people are awake and looking out the window at that time of morning. But someone may have seen something (someone talking to a girl like that, someone being pushy with a girl, a bunch of men entering a building, someone appearing to stand guard outside a building, etc.). And then, has anyone in that neighborhood been doing or saying anything suspicious since then? Do you know people who have engaged in predatory behavior in the past? It's good to pass that info along to police AND someone involved in the investigation from the family's side. I'm sure at least a few good clues can come of this if neighbors get together and try. - Reply to this comment
- Please note that the young lady's mother tried to arrange to pick her up and was discouraged. In another story, it was explained that nobody told the young woman that her mother had called and was coming to collect her. Who knows if they even helped arranged for her to call somebody. If they had, wouldn't they have said so? They already have two contradictory reports 1) they couldn't keep her because of overcrowding and 2) they offered to keep her despite overcroding. Conflicting reports usually indicate that the police are lying and haven't coordinated their stroies.
If a white woman had been released in a black neighborhood at 1 o'clock AM, people would be up in arms, but it was a black woman so nobody sees it as a problem.
It is clear that the woman was intoxicated and could not take care of herself, but they did not care or protect her. (Also, what kind of friends does this woman have that they would leave her in a situation like this.) Malibu is EXTREMELY dark at night with very few street lights. She could have easily become lost and subsequently abducted.
Let's not ignore the fact that this young woman is quite beautiful. Did that have something to do with her disappearance? Was somebody at the police department who became interested in her and saw that she intoxicated involved?
This sounds like a cover up. I think they are making up the report that she was seen somewhere to make themselves look better.
Mark my words. She will NEVER be found. The police department will make sure she is never heard from again as I am sure they do not want anyone to hear the real story. - Reply to this comment
- This is a truly sad thing, but the police are not to blame. They were overcrowded, but still offered her a bed. To those people who are saying that things are fishy because she was "released before the bill was paid, etc" are ignorant. They often book and release individuals with no prior criminal history whose offenses are misdemeanors. They save the room for the harder cases. Quit pointing fingers at the police for this tragic situation. Why wasn't her family there to pick her up? Were they aware of her excessive drinking and drug use. Lastly, the absurdity to bring up race is insulting. The fact is that she is not Lohan or Spears, and they have to make special considerations for them because of the media gridlock their incarcerations create. Sad but true. What it boils down to is this, they wouldn't drive any other criminal home, they did their due diligence and they are not to blame. She made a number of bad choices that night, they last one being to walk away from the police station without a plan of getting to where she needed to be. It was her choice, period. I do hope they find her safe and sound! My prayers are with her family, especially her mother.
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- Hmm...well, I wouldn't assume that Matt asked a question motivated by a racial prejudice. Perhaps he asked that question because she was found to have marijuana -- which might might imply that she had some "street smarts". Surely, just because someone asks if someone is street smart doesn't mean we need to assume that it was motivated by race...or is that an assumption because he is white? I do hope that she is safe. The sheriff's reaction is odd. The girl's reaction is odd. This morning her mom said that she was on her way to get her and wondered why the police didn't tell Mitrice that...but if Mitrice made a few phone calls then it seems that she didn't want her mom to know since she didn't call her mom...so...all of it seems strange. Is it odd that she would've eaten in a restaurant without being able to pay? The whole thing is confusing and it sounds as if a lot of people aren't being totally honest.
Race card...celebrity card...good grief. Is it playing a race card to assume that the police mishandled it because they are white? The thing is that no one has all the facts so to make any assumption this early about it being racially motivated is actually a racist statement.
Maybe she wouldn't have been treated like she was if she had been a male. Or if she was an Hispanic woman then maybe she would've been treated different...or a Muslim male...or an Asian woman...or a poor white woman...or a white male with a southern accent or transgender -- seriously. Race card? Celebrity card? Or -- police screwing up?
I think the investigation should start with who she called from the jail. Get the phone records. Call her 'friends'. Retrace her activities that evening. Who had she been with prior to the restaurant. - Reply to this comment
- Mitrice's mother seemed to be offended this morning on The Today Show when Matt Lauer asked her if Mitrice was "street smart." Why would he ask that? I think the mother was offended because it was like he thought because she was black then she must be street smart. Her mother let him know her daughter was not raised in the street and doesn't know a lot about that life. I applauded her for that. All blacks aren't raised in the "street life" environment.
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- Yes the cops are to blame. You arrest someone for not paying the bill and having marijuana in their possession, and then release them the next day without waiting for her parents (who was on their way) to post bail because you don't have no room in the jail? Somebody is covering up something. This is a young woman ... in the middle of the night... no car or phone or money. If she was white, I doubt this would've happened. Yes, I played the race card.
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- Is it me or is the Sheriff Station acting awefully strange?? I think the investigation should start with all the deputies that were there that night. Is there actual video footage of her walking out of that station? Smells of a cover up of some wrongdoing by the Deputies. Nothing surprises me anymore from those sworn to protect and to serve. Protect and to Serve who??
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