By Christopher Allen
Palo Alto Weakly Staff Writer

  Palo Alto Police officers responding to a 911 call arrive at an apartment complex in South Palo Alto and find a 13 year old girl sobbing and gasping for breath.  Her nose is bloodied and bruises are clearly obvious on her legs, arms and face.

  The girl informs the officers that her step-father punched her several times in the stomach, grabbed her, shook her violently, threw her against a wall and then smashed her face into her knees repeatedly until her nose started gushing blood.

  Two neighbor girls approach the officers and report that they have witnessed the girl's step-father beating on the girl and that he had also been molesting her.  One of the officers tells the girls that "it is none of your business" and that they need to go home.

  The officers then take the shaken and battered girl into her apartment and question the step-father in order to get "the other side of the story".  The man freely admits that he beat on the girl and explains that "she deserved it".  The officers decide not to arrest the man (in violation of Federal and State Child Abuse Laws) and the girl is told sternly by one of the officers that she needs to try harder to get along with her step-father.

  What makes this story all the more confusing is that the officers surely must have been aware that this same man was arrested 3 years previous for stabbing the young girl in the leg (when she was only 10 years old) and that he spent some time in jail for it.

  They also must have known that the girl has tried to commit suicide twice in the last 2 months, both times being taken to the hospital in an ambulance.

  In 1993, the stepfather was convicted of Felony Animal Abuse after the Newark Police Department found that he had left his dogs tied to a tree and left them to starve to death over a 2 month period.

  No photos were taken of the bruises on the little girl's body.  No statement was taken from the girl or from her neighbors.  No report has been filed concerning this incident.

  One of the neighbors in the apartment complex became so upset at the apathy of these two Palo Alto Police officers that she went down to Police Headquarters to lodge a complaint.  The Watch Commander on duty took her aside and told her, "You know, some amount corporal punishment is allowed by Law… the young lady just needs to try harder to get along with her step-father because he is under a lot of stress, he recently found out that he has cancer!"

  Evidently the Palo Alto Police have been ignoring the ongoing abuse being leveled on this young girl.  When we spoke with her she informed us that she has called the police several times reporting this man for the things he's done and that they sometimes don't even bother to respond to her calls for help.

  Her mother is also a victim of this abuser, but she "loves him" and has never reported him to the police.  She even goes so far as to cover up for him by sending her daughter away to relative's houses after severe beatings, to give her time to heal.

  As we go to press, the girl is still alive.

IN THIS ISSUE:

Headlines
Hewlett-Packard Ran Escort Service
Palo Alto Cable Co-op a Sham

Palo Alto Goodwill Store
Investigative Report by P. A. Weakly
Follow-up: Suicide of Goodwill Executive!

The Demise of University Avenue
Rodeo Drive North

Stanford PHD Uses Sex to Sell Religion
Tits and Ass for Jesus

Palo Alto Police Gazette
Child Abuse Ignored by Police Dept.
Hit & Run Victim Ticketed by Cop.
Prostitution Sting or Police Entrapment?

WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?

Palo Alto Weakly was published and distributed to local coffee shops, donut shops, train stations and libraries in and around the city of Palo Alto during the spring and summer of 1997.

The publishers moved on to bigger and better things (outside of Palo Alto of course).