Left: The Morales family (GoFundMe). Right: Screenshot of the suspect slapping a 10-year-old boy with autism (RMG News).
A California family expressed outrage that the man who slapped their 10-year-old boy with autism may not serve any jail time.
Video depicting the incident went viral online and led to the arrest of Scott Sakajian. The Los Angeles City Attorney’s Office charged Sakajian with willful cruelty to a child and battery on a person.
The incident happened on July 3 near Laurel Canyon Boulevard and Osborne Street in the Pacoima neighborhood of Los Angeles. Alfredo Morales, 10, and his older sister were crossing the street when Alfredo bent the emblem on a stopped Mercedes-Benz before walking away.
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According to local CW affiliate KTLA, the driver later identified as Sakajian turned the car around and followed Alfredo and his sister to a bus stop. He pulled over and got out of his car. Alfredo’s sister is seen and heard on the video apologizing and explaining in Spanish that her brother has autism and didn’t mean any harm — but Sakajian apparently wasn’t having any of it. That’s when the video allegedly showed Sakajian slapping Alfredo.
Sakajian’s attorney filed a motion with the court requesting pretrial diversion as opposed to jail time. This did not sit well with Alfredo’s family.
“[Sakajian’s] lawyer said, ‘Oh well, I didn’t know the boy was autistic.’ What the hell does that have to do with anything?” their attorney Antonio Villegas told local NBC affiliate KNBC. “It’s not OK to slap 10-year-old non-autistic kids.”
Villegas also told the outlet the conviction could be stricken from Sakajian’s record if he successfully completed the probationary period.
“I want all the people in the world to see this is not right,” Miguel Alfredo Morales, the boy’s father, said. “You have to respect the children in any condition.”
The defendant’s attorney, James Blatt, told KNBC that he filed additional video clips with the court that show the events leading up to the incident.
As Law&Crime previously reported, KTLA interviewed the woman who recorded the viral video.
“I was traumatized, I was shaking,” the woman who took the video told the outlet. “I said, ‘Hey sir, stop! You can’t be doing that.””
Somehow people identified Sakajian as the driver a couple days after the incident, prompting some residents to show up to his house to confront him, KTLA reported. Police were dispatched to the home because of threats, the outlet said.
There was a further outpouring of support after people learned the family was homeless and living in a broken-down truck in a park. A GoFundMe has netted the family about $100,000.
“Alfredo was the victim of a grown man slapping him at the bus stop,” the fundraiser says. “He has severe autism and his family is in desperate need of help.”
Community members also held a separate fundraiser for the family. The funds have allowed the family to move into temporary housing.
