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Climber Charles Barrett Arrested for Yosemite Sexual Assaults
Ezra Hendersonwrote: No. Where do you get that? |
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These 20-20 hindsight perspectives of what should have been done are dumb and they’re getting dumber. There are abusers with admin titles right here on MP and active in the climbing world - put up, go kick their ass and have them sent to prison - clean the community up a bit - then post back for us about how it all went for you. |
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Y’all we womxn have been trying to tell everyone for a minute about how unsafe it is to exist. Climbing is no different…. In some cases worse. I could go on and on but it’s been said. If you were impacted by Charlie’s actions and want to talk to someone about it my inbox is always open. |
James Wwrote: No one is going to believe heavy accusations like that without evidence (go ahead please!) but if you're saying that things are pretty nasty and pervasive, noted. EDIT - this is in error, as pointed out below. |
Ezra Hendersonwrote: One would assume the point hay-seuss is trying to make is “why the eff didn’t the bystanders/witnesses do something”. I concur |
Face Palmwrote: I had no idea of his history of sexual assault (I’m the OP of the supertopo thread) and came across an article I thought was interesting. During the ~6 months I worked at the gear exchange he would come in all the time, would chat about guidebook stuff, was very friendly to me when I was new in a town with few people who knew my name. Learning about his mental health issues in the article made me feel a connection as I struggle similarly with these things. Horrible to think what he was doing while I was sympathizing with what I can only imagine was a tip of an iceberg of extreme issues. You can even see in the responses the vague ways people discussed Charlie’s ‘antics’… he’s anxious, has baggage… well im anxious too, and what kind of baggage? Imagine if someone mentioned his assault in 2007 rather than the playful “stint in Taft.” Six years ago wasn’t that long, and I’m upset I didnt see the signs that are now pretty clear. as to why witnesses didn’t intervene, witnessing a violent assault isn’t something most of us are prepared to deal with, especially when it’s a huge aggressive violent person. They testified against him and helped send him to prison. |
Sam Gileadiwrote: For a little context, while neither of these are recent, the only blog that mentions him was last updated over a decade ago (it seems before they made a real website) and he's not listed on Asana's current athlete list. http://asanaclimbing.blogspot.com/ vs. |
Christian Heschwrote: That was my first thought, but since I wasn't there and don't know shite about this guy or any of this beyond what's on this thread, I was sincerely asking the logical (to me) question: 6 people watched that and.... ? Seemed like something was left out between witnessing the event and then showing up in court to testify. And since this thread has had a lot of discussion about other climbers enabling/glossing over actions, I thought it was a relevant question. Not saying that testifying was not brave, and not saying what I would have done, or someone else should have done either. One never knows how they'll respond in these situations, myself included, so not trying to be judgmental or imply anything. But I definitely wasn't saying that the assault was OK just because no one intervened or OK for any other reason. Moreover, I don't know that no one intervened, that's why I asked. Maybe Ezra knows and that's why he responded as he did. |
Christian Heschwrote: Who says they didnt? The witnesses did "do something." The most important something. They gave their statements on record to the authorities. There was no he said/she said debate that unfortunately usually happens in abuse. CB was convicted.They stood up. |
Average Forumuserwrote: This is pretty much correct. Before a witness can testify at trial, they are interviewed by not just the prosecution, but also the defense. If not, defense can move to exclude the witness. Before it gets to that point, a witness to something such as an assault would also generally be interviewed by law enforcement for the report/complaint. Defense will parse the police statement, witness interview and subsequent testimony to find any inconsistent statements to attack the witness’ credibility. It is no small thing to be a witness in a felony prosecution. |
Frank Steinwrote: Basically correct. I was just an eyewitness in a felony preliminary hearing. The defense didn't get to "interview me" but they did get to cross-examine me on the stand. The accused person's public defender tried to trip me up with questions about where I had been standing, how I saw what I saw, how many feet from place a to place b. Just basic probing. It was uncomfortable and I was simply a witness to a tweaker breaking into my neighbors' house with a screwdriver. I can imagine if I were sitting there facing my own rapist and getting questions about why I didn't report immediately, or why I was dressed so sexy, or whatever, it would get really scary really quick. |
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I went back and read the beginning of this thread, and it seems like many of the arguments of the last few pages were brought up earlier. For that, I apologize for my role in it. One thing that was mentioned in the beginning that is interesting as an idea separate somewhat from the sexual assault accusation is this: Eastern Sierra Old Guy wrote: We are all here presumably because we get a lot out of climbing. Who actually gives to the community? We all have a role it seems but it's always an exchange of sorts, too. |
Andrew Ricewrote: Yeah, the defense probably didn’t do due diligence or just didn’t really care enough to demand a witness interview with you. I’ve had the defense pull stunts such as requesting witness interviews on Christmas with hope that prosecution would be unable to set them up, thus providing reason to exclude the witness. It actually gave me great pleasure to make those interviews happen, and then have the defense attorney get all huffy because they had to attend an interview on Christmas day. I do believe that in California a victim of a sexual assault is shielded from being forced to provide a pre-trial witness interview. In most states that is not the case. |
Adam Burch wrote: His height and weight were listed on one of the court documents posted earlier on this thread: 5'11'', 166 lbs. So a very average-sized guy--height marginally above US average, weight below, but weight would be misleading here as typical US guy is pretty fat whereas elite climbers are ripped. I'd guess he has much better strength, balance, agility and overall athleticism than an average guy--you don't end up as an elite climber by being an uncoordinated weakling. Add that to the fact that he's apparently had a few stints in prison so probably fights with "prison rules"--I don't think I'd want to mess with him! And we don't know much about the group of six. Obviously, they weren't six bouncers or six MMA fighters. It may have been the dynamic where each of the six was thinking something like "if we all rush him, we can get him, but I don't see anyone else lining up to be the first person to attack a raging madman." And everyone's got their own issues: for example, the 25-year-old version of me would have been more inclined to get involved than my 52-year-old self with a surgically repaired back, barely functional shoulder, etc. |
Adam Burch wrote: I had a fair amount of experience trying to control violent people. To do it right and to do it safely is difficult, and you need a well trained and coordinated team. It's tough. |
Adam Burch wrote: My understanding is domestic violence calls are among the most volatile and dangerous calls police respond to. It is very understandable for a witness to not want to get involved and potentially hurt. |
Adam Burch wrote: I just sit on him and crush 'em with my expanise architectural posterior. Seriously though, let's not encourage violence. I know that Adam wasn't doing that but please, let's not have this devolve into other people threatening violence. |
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apologies as I was on mobile (big hands, dislike typing) and prefer brevity in general... but I should have expounded that I was in concurrence for the thought of "why didn't they do something...and what other parts of the story don't we know..." as clearly there must be more than can be written in a short article or even a police report. Hopefully any of those six don't feel thrown under the bus, as that certainly wasn't my intent. Kudos to all of them for taking the time and effort to testify. want to reiterate, thanks to everyone who has taken the initial dumpster fire and turned it into a thoughtful conversation, one that seems to have provoked a much deeper analysis - of both the immediate issue and associated/underlying issues - than many of us would have otherwise brought into our lives. |
WF WF51wrote: Same. In what capacity?
That depends on what "do it right" means, and if you mean subduing a large, violent person, in can be difficult but it doesn't have to be, and that's not a foregone conclusion.
Debatable. I too have had experience and ONE properly trained person can help someone else that *should be* properly trained but isn't. In this video, this is demonstrated quite well. Notice the size and strength of the cop, vs. the relative size and strength of the "suspect", then look at the size of the dude that is "assisting". The large, busting out of his uniform (fat AND muscle) cop can't control someone who appears to be of similar size and greater strength. One well-trained, much smaller guy changes this equation quickly and dramatically. One guy is supposed to be trained, and isn't, and one of them is trained but doesn't operate in the typical state-sanctioned position of authority, i.e. police officer. So, they're not a well-trained team, but still manage. I've been in this scenario a few times, and I can certainly say two things- if no one is trained, then yeah, 6 people probably would botch this up, and get injured as a result of trying to stop someone in the commissioning of a crime/violent act against another person. You don't need a squad of SEALs though, to subdue someone that is of average size |
Adam Burch wrote: The real Burchy would fight ‘em and win, nawmean? |
