New developments in a story KMIR first brought you several weeks ago.
In May, a student at Stepping Stones Learning Center in Palm Springs said the executive director body slammed him following a confrontation they had. After reading the report, the student’s mother is now saying it is incomplete.
“There was a lot of bias going on in the report. I felt like the investigation was less than thorough,” said Storey Lantry Chavira, the victim’s mother.
“My son’s statement is not in the report. My statement is not in the report and so it just feels like there is a lot of betrayal going on.”
Chavira says her eldest son witnesses the ordeal with his younger brother and was explaining to her what happened, as it happened, over the phone. Her biggest gripe about the report is that neither her or her eldest son’s statements were included.
“My son’s statement is not in the report. My statement is not in the report and so it just feels like there is a lot of betrayal going on,” said Chavira.
“Mom does not have the full police report, mom has a portion of the police report, but not the full details. It’s an active investigation. Not every piece of those details will be released at this point,” said Lt. William Hutchinson of the Palm Springs Police Department.
Investigators say that in these types of cases, emotions run high. While they have interviewed everyone involved, it is their job to determine what is fact and what is hyperbole.
“When you have a family member telling you that this is what they saw with another family member, that’s certainly apart of the investigation, but we have to corroborate that through additional witnesses and if we can’t then it becomes a very difficult situation for the courts and for the jury because of the family relation,” said Hutchinson.
Chavira says the evidence is clear. That her son’s face in those pictures tells the whole story. She says the executive director did not have to go to the lengths that he did, even if her son was acting out. But that determination can only come from the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office. The case currently under review.
