Police reports say she was acting strange at the restaurant, sitting with strangers and striking up conversations out of the blue. She was there by herself.
The cops drove her 13 miles away to the sheriff's department, booked her, and then released her at 1am. She wasn't intoxicated at that point, which is why they police say they had no legal grounds to hold her. They offered her a bed, she declined the offer, made a few phone calls, and walked out of the police station. She was never seen again.
Her parents were livid! I mean, mine would be too. They called the police station numerous times since Mitrice went missing and they say that the sheriff's statements on what happened have changed numerous times. 1st, they said that the station was too full and that they had to release her due to over crowding, when in fact the station only had 1 inmate from 3:30am to 1pm. The police were uncooperative in relaying the information as to who she called before she left the station. 1st they said that they offered her to sleep in the lobby until when she could make arrangements to get home, the next time the parents talked to the police they then said they offered a bed to her. So which was it? The lobby? A bed? A bed in the lobby? A room with beds? The police weren't clear and kept changing statements. The police went on to say that they do not run a "baby sitting operation" and she was free to go, which is why they didn't escort her home.
The parents called a civil action attorney who said they're going to the F.B.I., and that if her last name was "Spears" or "Lohan" or "Hilton", etc she would've been escorted home. He also went on to say that they're going to leave it up to the public to decide if she was racially discriminated against. He says they should've given her a little more attention like they would've to the celebrities. Maybe not as much, but a lot more than what they gave Mitrice.
The mother wanted to make a point that she talked with the police while Mitrice was in the police car making the 13 mile trip to the station from the restaurant and informed them that she was on her way to pick up Mitrice. The parents went on to say that they didn't get the impression that the information of, "mom being on the way to pick you" was disclosed to Mitrice and that they don't think the police did everything that they should have like the police say they did.
I want to know was the station REALLY crowded like the police say it was from the time they took Mitrice into custody until 3:30am, at which point they only had 1 inmate in custody. The father made a great point there but it was after she was released. So was it crowed beforehand while his daughter was there. Nonetheless the momentum and justice is on their side, I think. There's just too many pot holes in the original story for the police to come off scott free and claim they did everything by the book.
The Today show on NBC did a story on it. The video link is below. As is the article with all the correct police positions/names, other names, and facts to prove this story's accuracy and where all of my facts came from.
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/26184891/vp/33017974#33017974
Malibu mystery: Woman missing after arrest
Mitrice Richardson, 24, was last seen walking out of a sheriff’s station
By Mike Celizic
TODAYShow.com contributor
updated 6:51 a.m. PT, Fri., Sept . 25, 2009
First the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department released a 24-year-old woman into the night from a remote substation. Now, they’re trying to find her as the parents of Mitrice Richardson ratchet up their charges that authorities never should have let her go to begin with.
“Mitrice is not street savvy,” her mother, Latice Sutton, told TODAY’s Matt Lauer Friday from Los Angeles, more than a week after her daughter, a college graduate and former beauty pageant contestant, disappeared. “Mitrice has had a pretty sheltered upbringing.”
There have been few leads in the disappearance. A resident in a neighborhood several miles away from the sheriff’s station reported seeing a woman meeting Richardson’s description sleeping on a porch that morning, but there have been no other sightings.
Sutton and Richardson’s father, Michael Richardson, along with their lawyer, civil rights attorney Leo Terrell, accused police Friday of inconsistencies in their reports. Terrell has said that celebrities who get arrested are never released into the night, and Richardson should not have been, either.
Richardson is black, and the area where she was arrested is predominantly white. Lauer asked Terrell if he thinks there is a racial aspect to the way Richardson was treated.
“I’ll let the public decide that,” the lawyer replied.
‘Something a little strange’The missing woman, who worked as an executive assistant and lived with her grandmother in Los Angeles, holds a degree from Cal State Fullerton and planned to go to graduate school to pursue a doctorate in psychology. On Wednesday, Sept. 17, she drove to an upscale restaurant in Malibu, 40 miles from her home, where staff said she was behaving oddly, at one point sitting down with a table of six and engaging them in conversation.
Jeff Peterson, the restaurant’s owner, said her erratic behavior was noticed by customers and employees. “There was something a little strange about her,” he told CNN. “She wasn’t mentally ill, not ranting or raving. You couldn’t put your finger on it.”
When Richardson was presented with an $89 check, Peterson told police, she said she had no money and couldn’t pay. According to Sutton, her daughter called her great-grandmother, who offered to pay the bill over the phone, but the restaurant said they couldn’t do that. Instead, Peterson called the sheriff’s deputy out of concern for Richardson’s safety, he said.
Released on her own When deputies arrived, they searched Richardson’s car and impounded it after finding a small amount of marijuana. They arrested Richardson
for possession of marijuana and not paying her bill and took her 13 miles away to the Malibu/Lost Hills sheriff’s station. Her car remained at the restaurant.
Sutton says she called the restaurant after the great-grandmother called to tell her what had happened. When she was told her daughter had been arrested, Sutton called the sheriff’s station and told deputies that she would be there sometime after 4 a.m. to pick Richardson up.
Sutton says when she called back at 4:30 a.m. to find out what Richardson’s bail was, she was told that her daughter had been released on her own recognizance three hours earlier. Sutton has said that her daughter’s cell phone and identification were in her car at the restaurant. Police say she had her ID with her.
Police deny wrongdoing Richardson’s parents say she should never have been released at that hour with no transportation or money. Michael Richardson said deputies told him they were not running a baby-sitting service. He told Lauer he was also told that there was no room to keep her at the jail, but the father said he checked police records and discovered that there was only one other prisoner at the jail that day between 1:30 a.m. and that afternoon.
“It’s all inconsistencies,” Michael Richardson told Lauer. “I’ve talked to them several times.” He said he was first told that deputies told his daughter she could sleep in the lobby. Then, he said, he was told she was offered a bed in a cell. Then he says he was told about the alleged overcrowding.
Richardson’s parents and attorney say they have not been able to obtain police reports on the arrest.
Police deny any wrongdoing. A sheriff’s department spokesman declined to go on the air, but told NBC News that Mitrice Richardson is an adult, and there was no reason to keep her in custody after charging her because she showed no signs of being intoxicated.
‘Not on her right set of mind’But her family says there is no justification for allowing her to leave at that hour in an area with which the young woman was unfamiliar.
“Although Mitrice had money, she did not have money in her possession,” her mother told Lauer. “Her being out there alone is very frightening to me because Mitrice is not street savvy.”
According to published reports, Mitrice Richardson had been acting strangely on the day of her arrest and disappearance.
“She was sending very odd text messages and making very odd statements about being part of the universe, part of nature,” said Ronda Hampton, a family friend and clinical psychologist.
In an interview with CNN, Sutton said she was also concerned about her daughter’s uncharacteristic behavior. “She was not on her right set of mind,” Sutton said. “She hasn’t called me or her grandmother. That’s extremely odd. We know that something is wrong with Mitrice. We have got to find her.”
Deputies have said that Mitrice Richardson, who is described as an African-American who stands between 5-foot-5 and 5-foot-6 and weighs about 135 pounds, made two phone calls before walking into the night and vanishing. Her parents say they have asked to know which numbers she called but have not obtained that information. They know only that their daughter did not call them or other family members.
“The authorities have been unwilling, unable to produce that information as to who she called,” Sutton said.
Los Angeles Police have been called into service in the search for the young woman. Lauer asked Sutton and Michael Richardson if they think police are doing enough to find their daughter.
“No,” Michael Richardson said. “Not at all.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
2009 MSNBC Interactive. Reprints
URL: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33018272/
