Posted on November 13, 2007

Calling Rapist a Hispanic Irks Radio Station

Nicole Beyer, East Valley Tribune (Phoenix), November 10, 2007

Chandler police will not alter their description of the Chandler Rapist despite complaints from a Valley radio station about the department’s use of the word “Hispanic” to describe the attacker.

“I think this is racial profiling,” said Mayra Nieves, vice president of programming for KMYL (1190 AM).

Nieves said Hispanic is an ethnicity, not a race—and many Hispanics are white or black. She said ethnicity should not be used when describing an attacker. Instead she said she would describe the Chandler Rapist as having “dark skin.”

But Chandler police spokesman Sgt. Rick Griner said his department will stand by its description, saying they release the details the victims give them.

“It would be irresponsible on our part to change or alter that,” he said.

Since June 2006, police said the Chandler Rapist has sexually assaulted five girls between the ages of 12 and 14 in the area around Andersen Junior High School. In each case, Griner said the attacker threatens his victims with a weapon and then sexually assaults them.

Police said another incident on Thursday could be the work of the same attacker. An intruder broke into a home in the 1600 block of West Temple Street and attacked a 15-year-old girl about 6 a.m. after her single father went to work.

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Construction worker Juan Mendez said he was questioned for two hours Thursday starting at about 6:15 a.m., shortly after the attack. Mendez said in Spanish that he’s not angry police interrogated him, although he said police treated him with suspicion.

“I feel bad because they treated me like a delinquent,” he said.

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