By Pauline Vu
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
UCLA redshirt freshman linebacker Asi Faoa was arrested for
hitting another student who is now suffering from brain damage.
Faoa, 19, was arrested on June 16 and charged with one count
each of mayhem and assault after a May 30 altercation with
third-year psychology student Rodrigo DeZubiria, 22.
The incident occurred at a Lambda Chi block party on Strathmore
and Gayley in celebration of the Inter-sorority Volleyball
Tournament. According to defense lawyer Milton Grimes, Faoa and
DeZubiria collided repeatedly in a mosh pit at the party. Then Faoa
struck DeZubiria with his elbow once. DeZubiria was said to have
been intoxicated at the time.
After he was struck, DeZubiria fell to the ground. Though the
prosecution says that the combination of Faoa’s hit and the
impact of hitting the ground caused DeZubiria’s brain damage,
the defense says it was solely the fall that put DeZubiria in his
present state.
DeZubiria is recuperating at his San Francisco home. The brain
damage he received affected the part of his brain that controls
speaking, reading, writing, comprehension and other areas of
language.
“I was very frightened for him, and upset that something
like this could occur at a respected university, and by someone who
is supposed to represent that school in a positive way,” said
DeZubiria’s mother, Deborah Wirth.
Faoa’s arrest came as a surprise to his family.
“We were shocked,” said Kim Faoa, Asi’s
mother. “Because that’s not our son ““ Asi would
not hit anybody. As parents, we were very hurt that somebody can do
something like that, destroy our son like that. He’s just not
that person.”
Faoa, 19, has been indefinitely suspended from the football
team.
“The suspension is consistent with past precedent,”
UCLA Athletic Director Peter Dalis said in a statement. “We
will investigate the situation before making any other
decisions.”
At his arraignment on Monday, June 19, Faoa pled not guilty to
both charges. His preliminary hearing was set for July 10 and his
bail, originally set at $100,000 at the time of his arrest, was
lowered to $25,000. After the arraignment Faoa was taken to the Los
Angeles County Jail.
By midnight of Tuesday, however, his family had raised the money
needed to post bail, with help from family members, friends, and
the local community in Anaheim, Faoa’s hometown.
Also, when the Anaheim community learned of Faoa’s arrest,
many people came forward to offer themselves as witnesses to his
character.
“There are people here who love him and who believe in
their hearts that our son is not the person that they said he was
or accused him of being,” Kim Faoa said. “The support
has been so marvelous.”
The prosecution and defense have varying accounts on who was the
aggressor of the fight on May 30.
According to deputy district attorney Dana Garcetti and Wirth,
who spoke to the detective on the case and to several students who
have come to visit DeZubiria, Faoa started the fight.
“Asi was challenging people to fight,” Garcetti
said. “He was asking something like, “˜Do you want a
piece of me?'”
According to Wirth nobody would fight with Faoa, and so he hit a
nearby student who happened to be DeZubiria.
“Rodrigo didn’t even see the blow coming; he was
totally blindsided and thrown down, striking his head on the
concrete,” she said. “He was knocked
unconscious.”
Faoa’s lawyer, Milton Grimes, tells a different story.
Grimes said DeZubiria was the aggressor, that he punched Asi in
the eye and Faoa struck back once.
“We don’t know all that happened. It seems unlikely
that Asi would provoke a fight. At worst, he was defending
himself,” he added.
According to Garcetti and Wirth’s accounts, there was no
evidence of anybody threatening Faoa.
“I know that Asi is claiming Rodrigo hit him first, but
that is untrue,” Wirth said. “The police report and
witnesses to the incident say the attack was totally
unprovoked.”
But the defense’s story is the opposite of this.
“It appeared to be a reaction of self-defense on
Asi’s part,” Grimes said. “It wasn’t his
fault.”
According to Kim Faoa, when her son came home a few days after
the incident, his eye was black and bleeding from the hit it had
taken.
Should Faoa be found guilty, the prosecution has not yet decided
what punishment it will seek for him. Garcetti said prison is an
option, but added, “It depends on how facts come out at the
preliminary hearing.”
Both DeZubiria and Faoa’s families feel the effects of the
fight.
“The medical costs are quite high,” Wirth said of
treatment for her son. “The insurance helps, but does not
cover everything, and treatment will continue for quite some
time.
“Rodrigo has also lost time from school and work. I have
taken an unpaid leave from work to care for him so I am incurring
wage loss as well,” she added.
Kim Faoa sees an injustice done against her son. The time
between the fight and his arrest, Faoa had not been aware of the
extent of DeZubiria’s injuries, and had no idea that he might
be in legal trouble. His June 16 arrest at his dormitory was a
complete shock to him.
“Why was my son not questioned by police officers in this
matter? They just showed up and arrested him,” she said.
“I just hope this whole ordeal doesn’t affect him,
that he can go on with his education. Something like this can
destroy somebody.”