Modesto Police Officer Does World A Favor
UPDATE 6/17/08 - The man who killed his two-year-old son is named Sergio Aguiar. The baby’s name is also Sergio, and he turned two in May. Aguiar and his wife, Frances Liliana Casian, are separated and baby Sergio was visiting his father. The heroic officer who shot Aguiar is Officer Jerry Ramar, a Modesto police veteran and flight officer. More details at the bottom of this article.
That shiny stuff? Is a baby’s blood.
Turlock, CA, June 16, 2008 - Shortly after 10:00 p.m. on Saturday night, a 27-year-old man stopped his pickup truck on the side of an unlit country road between Modesto and Turlock in California. The man then took a baby out of the vehicle, removed the infant from his car seat, and proceeded to beat and stomp the child to death. Witnesses were unable to stop the man, who was covered in the baby’s blood, until a Modesto police officer dropped in on the scene by helicopter. When it was readily apparent that the suspect was not going to stop killing the baby, the police officer shot and killed the suspect in hopes of saving the child.
Sadly, the baby boy died on the way to the hospital, gravely injured and drowning in his own blood.
Witnesses called 911just after 10:00 p.m., but their cell phone reception was bad and they weren’t able to give a precise address. It took another 911 call and a few minutes for police to get a good location of the assault and get officers headed to the scene, which was adjacent to a dairy farm in a very rural area with no lighting. Meanwhile, at least two witnesses tried to stop the attack, but were shaken off as the man repeatedly slammed the baby into the asphalt on the side of the road.
“In the shadows and light it looked like he had hit an animal,” said volunteer fire chief Dan Robinson. He was driving home from a late dinner and came upon the scene. “As we backed up again, I could see that he had blood on his arms. I could see that it was a small child.”
Robinson jumped out of his own vehicle and confronted the man, who lunged at him. Robinson said the man “wasn’t screaming and wasn’t loud, but was forceful”, saying “demons” were in the boy. The attacker hardly even slowed down, but grabbed Robinson’s shirt and tried to take a pen out of his pocket, repeating “Give me the knife… give me the knife.” (I think I’d have given the guy a big rock to the back of the head, but that’s just me.)
The attacker continued to punch, stomp, kick, beat and slam the baby into the pavement as officers arrived. A Stanislaus County Sheriff’s helicopter was carrying a Modesto Police tactical officer, who was dropped to the ground so he could get close to the suspect. As the officer witnessed the attack, he ordered the suspect to stop beating the infant, but the suspect continued to kill the child, so the tactical officer did the only thing he could do - he killed the suspect back, shooting the babykiller as he continued to try to land punches on the infant.
Investigators believe they know who the baby is, but will need to do DNA comparison because of the state of the child’s body. The victim was a boy, between twelve and 24 months old. At least one report suggests that the killer may have been the baby’s father. Happy Father’s Day… not.
I’m sickened that this happened - it’s reminiscent of Travis Mullis to me. I’m saddened that no witnesses felt that they could hit the attacker with a big rock or a tire iron and plead “accident”. I truly don’t think any court would convict someone trying to save a child. But I’m proud of that police officer. He wasn’t able to save this baby, but who knows how many others are saved because this monster babykiller is dead? Certainly the officer saved the cost of a trial. I hope that this officer is treated as the hero he is.
Thanks to SoUncool and other members, who are discussing this case in our forums.
Update 6/17/08 - The babykiller has been identified as Sergio Aguiar, 27, of Turlock. The victim was his son, also called Sergio, who was born May 8, 2006 and had just turned two years old. Sergio and his wife, Frances Liliana Casian, a kindergarten teacher, are separated and live in different apartments in the same complex. It appears that the baby was on a Father’s Day weekend visit with his dad when he was killed.
The officer who fired on Aguiar is Modesto Police Officer Jerry Ramar, a force veteran and flight officer who made the shot at long range within two minutes of landing. “I have never seen anything like that before and I hope I never have to again, ” Ramar says.
On landing at 10:17, Ramar ordered Aguiar to put his hands up and step away from the baby. Aguiar’s response was to flip Ramar the bird and proceed to kick baby Sergio “like a soccer ball”. Ramar fired, and by 10:20, Aguiar wasn’t kicking anyone anymore. Unfortunately, Sergio was completely limp and unable to be revived.
Investigators say that the amount of blood inside the truck indicates that baby Sergio had probably suffered fatal injuries before being removed from the vehicle.
I see this debate still rages. Cool. I believe any research in the wrong hands can be flawed. Like statistics. ALL data should not be pushed aside as false or flawed.
I would have done any and everything within my power to stop that ass hole. That’s just me. I tend to judge others by my experiences/character/moral expectations of myself. It’s all relevant. I would/could not be one of those people who stood by.
It’s not in my make-up therefore impossible for me to believe. I wish them no harm.
Bye baby boy. RIP.
Agreed, Athena. I see a lot of responses came in while I was WORKING. Let me catch back up now, as I only finished the post I had started typing. I have not expressed any hard feelings toward the other posters. I have been told that respect was lost for me, because I was not in popular opinion. Like stated, I value all of your opinions and still respect you just the same, even when we have different views. I did not make this personal.
I refuse to make this a personal attack. I do have to say this, however. Everyone always asks, “Why is the world the way it is today? or What’s wrong with the world?” Its that mentality right there. The line of thinking that: its not their business, they got their own shit going on. - is exactly WHY the world has become so sorry. NO ONE feels the need to reach out and help their fellow man.
Thank you for making that statement. Just set back and think about it. Are you really comfortable wearing that distinction on yourself? Even though, you feel no moral obligation, I did not lose respect for you. I don’t understand how you can feel this way, but I respect you just as much as I did yesterday.
And for those who have lost respect for me, I would still jump in to help you, because its the RIGHT thing to do. I would still do it, knowing by your posts that you probably would not do the same for me. I would act on what I believed to be right, deserved or not obligated or not - just because its the right thing to do.
Finally, I did not dismiss the research. I said it was flawed because of the human factor and it is. I stand by what I posted 100%, whether others lose respect for me or not. You act as if I think, what were the words, “they took a survey at the mall” - now who is insulting whose intelligence? I say the data cannot be proven 100% accurate because of the human factor to lie - after all, part of the conclusions were made from interviews with people, after the fact. People are interviewed after different scenarios are given to them - the human factor played a large part in the conclusions drawn. The human ability to lie was there and probably used. The humans flawed the research.
Damn, that summed it up better than my 50 walls of words.
Y’all: first of all, “ethics” and “morals” aren’t the same thing.
Secondly: With all respect for the commitment to help another human being out (I hope that I would, that’s for sure), I think it’s a little wrongheaded to judge others according to one’s “own experiences.” I’m quoting from Michelle, with whom Pooh agreed. I know what you mean–shouldn’t anyone help a defenseless baby?–but I think that judging-people-as-if-they’re-all-just-like-you brings one into dangerously narcissistic territory. What happens if you have 2 small children of your own who have no one to rely on but you and you get yourself killed by attempting something you’re not physically capable of doing–especially if by the time you’ve shown up it’s quite clear that the perp is assaulting a baby who is no longer alive? Is that the moral–moral, responsible, ethical–thing for you to do? Well, no, maybe not, I’m just sayin’. Of course, many people are just selfish a-holes who won’t go out of their way for another person. That’s true, too. It’s the Kitty Genovese story–that’s the famous one–but there are many others.
Everyone always asks, “Why is the world the way it is today? or What’s wrong with the world?†Its that mentality right there. The line of thinking that: its not their business, they got their own shit going on. - is exactly WHY the world has become so sorry. NO ONE feels the need to reach out and help their fellow man.
Actually, Pooh, it’s kind of the opposite. The sort of involvement you speak of is really a new concept, a biproduct of systems like the police, CPS, TIPS, etc. This type of program, the one that requires community involvement, hasn’t really existed for long. 50 years ago, everyone in the neighborhood would know that Timmy gets beat by dad when he’s drunk, and no one would do anything about it because it’s not their business. Go even farther back, and you’re looking at societies where spousal and child abuse were so okay, those activities hadn’t even been criminalized. Hell, OWNING another human being was not even a moral consideration to many. This idea that other individuals’ business is ours if we happen across it is relatively new.
The truth is, a lot of folks lament over days that never actually existed. Generally speaking, the world we live in today is better in every way (except for, perhaps, environmentally) than it’s ever been before. The world was never any safer or more moral than it is currently.
Pirelli - I use the term “genetic” pretty loosely, as you can see. I happen to believe that science is in the process of proving that nearly every element of human behavior is the result of genetic predisposition. That being said, most of this behavior can be modified through conditioning. I do believe that the tendency to not involve oneself is the predominant, sort of “default” tendency, which, as you suggested, is why we treat heroes as we do. It’s because they ARE exceptional. It’s because most people wouldn’t behave as they do, because it’s not natural (and I mean “natural” most literally).
If it were standard to involve oneself, and every human was capable of it, the world would be a much different place.
I can see what your saying, that is a very good point. But the reason that doesn’t sway me too much in this situation is because the guy didn’t have a weapon (he even basically admitted as much to the fireman), he was outnumbered by the bystanders, and at one point he walked away from the child to help the fireman put his flashers on. Would it really be that life-threatening to grab the child off the ground and lock yourself in the car? Or to get 4 or 5 of the other people that are watching with you to help you restrain him? Again, I can’t say for sure what I would have done, but I would like to think that I wouldn’t have just stood around gawking and waiting for the cops to come. All situations are different, and I am not saying that I would jump in front of a bullet for a perfect stranger, and leave my son without a mother, but I CAN say that I wouldn’t stand around with a group of 7 or 8 people (one of them being a fireman) and watch an unarmed man stomp on a baby 100 plus times. And I would also like to stress that like Pooh, most of my outrage is directed at the fireman, I just don’t see his excuse in this situation.
His excuse? He is bound by a duty to the community.
After the man proved volatile the fireman had some perceived obligation to help the baby perhaps but he damn sure has a legal responsibility to protect the populace at large. Sad to say but that is the greater good. He was probably working to keep others from entering into confrontation with the lunatic father. That would be the fireman’s job. Cops deal with the violence, fireman are protectors.
Would this situation have been bettered by a civilian or two getting their head stomped in or if the whole gang had tussled and fallen into traffic lanes?
Its sad that people die prematurely, especially when its 80 or 90 years premature. But all this chest thumping on moral, ethical, genetic obligation overlooks the fact that those people watching would have to risk the possibility of death to intervene. You think someone who just killed a baby is going to go quietly under citizens arrest?
Are you shitting me? You think it was his job to “keep others from entering into confrontation with the lunatic father”? I personally call that an accessory to murder. You think that was his job - as a protector? Why didn’t he PROTECT the HELPLESS CHILD, with his own body, if necessary, instead of 11 other ABLE BODIED ADULTS? The CHILD was the one in DIRE need of his protection, not adults sitting, in their locked cars, dialing 911.
And, I might add, the evidence clearly proves the man WAS NOT in such a state, that the general public needed to be guarded against his actions. He was not aggressive to ANY of the bystanders. He CALMLY asked the POS, cowardly fireman for a pen, because he didn’t even have a knife. He CALMLY stopped stomping the baby and assisted the fireman in turning on his own damn flashers. At no time did he, according to the witnesses, pose any threat to ANY of the bystanders - just the baby. So, why wasn’t this PROTECTOR doing his damn job and protecting a helpless child in obvious distress?
I ask you, what were the indicators that made this fireman make the judgement call that he had an obligation to protect the “populace at large”? By ALL witness accounts, there were none. The lunatic was only aggressive toward the helpless child. The fireman is a cowardly POS, who, at the very least, failed miserably at his job as a protector and if he did in fact keep others from intervening - he is an accessory to murder.
You contradict youself, in your own paragraph. With your own words and logic, you say his job is PROTECTOR. If his job, as a fireman is to be a “protector”, then he damn well should have been protecting a 2 year old CHILD instead of any bystanding ADULTS. And if you are correct that he stopped anyone else from intervening - he is a bigger piece of shit, than I first originally thought. If he was too cowardly to act himself, he should have joined others if they tried to intervene, not hinder them.
Forgive me for not dropping this yesterday, as I said. I cannot begin to put into words or give it a number, to what level this disturbs me, that society finds this “not helping” acceptable. My last thought on this subject is this: At the top of the page, to the right of the little red sleeping demon, there is a quote that Morbid placed up there, from Albert Einstein, that I assumed was basically our motto…….
Please let these words sink deep, deep into you heart and brain -
The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, BUT BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE WHO DON’T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT. Spoken or written by Albert Einstein, a very educated man. Quoted by Morbid and whole heartedly believed by the pooh.
Peace, respect, and love to all.
I think what’s being forgotten in this specific case is that it seems it was clear by the time there were witnesses, including the firefighter–this is what witnesses say, anyway–that the child was already dead. How many times exactly can a grown man in a full-blown psychotic rage stomp with all his might on a baby before it is most definitely dead? Not many.
Pooh5, you and Solange are both well-intentioned, but I will say the same thing to you that I said to Solange, above. None of us were there, so I cannot say with certainty, of course, but what seems to be the is that this baby had already demonstrably perished by any stretch of common sense by the time that there was a crowd and the firefighter. One real stomp would do it, probably, I’m sorry to say.
Now, if you find it horrid that the very first person who saw it called 911, that’s a different story. But of course those people did not know if he had a gun or whatever, though psychotic rage was I’m sure apparent, and we do not know those people’s personal situations, their physical conditions, their responsibilitie, etc. We do know they called 911. Myself, as a very petite person, I doubt I could have done anything by myself without a serious weapon against this guy in a monstrous rage on a rural unlit road.
As for the crowd & firefighter, I agree with Perrelli. By that time, I can’t imagine it wasn’t apparent that this poor child had been murdered. Realistically speaking.
The debate continues…..
Add to the debate the bit Pooh’s referring to about judging others by your own experiences…good luck with that, Michelle…I know you don’t mean to be narcissitic, and I’m not trying to be rude, but…a legless Armenian legless shopkeeper (just for instance, a dramatic example) and you simply haven’t had the same experiences, so judging others by yours can only be so fruitful. You said “it’s all relevant.” Actually, it’s all _relative_. It has to be, necessarily, because the world isn’t one-dimensional…
How many more stomps with all of the perps might, could I or you stand opposed to a baby? A lot more and live to tell about it. How much better chance did the fireman have against this POS than a two year old child? A whole lot more of a chance than the child.
The witnesses never knew the condition of the child because they never got close enough to check the child’s condition. One pissy ass little man bluffed them all, without one sign of a weapon or even throwing much of a fit. The witnesses stated he WAS NOT running around acting like a crazy man. The witnesses stated that he was “calm”. Where are you getting this “full-blown psychotic rage” stuff from? Its not in the witness accounts.
And, I will add the witnesses were wrong about the child being dead already. The child was alive and might be today, had he not had to take those last 95 kicks or so. Kick 100 times and see just how long that takes. Not to mention, in that time, he STOPPED and assisted in turning on flashers and then was ALLOWED TO RETURN to stomping the child. How can that fact alone not send you into a fit over the inactions of a trained professional? It was CLEARLY stated the child died on the way to the hospital, choking on his own blood. Another point, quickly forgotten.
wanted to share :
Last Update: 7/08 12:30 am
Cincinnati police say a man who was struck by a car on Riverside Drive in the East End has died.
Police say it happened just before 11 p.m. Monday night.
Police had to call in extra backup because the driver of the car was being attacked with a brick by onlookers.
http://www.wcpo.com/news/local/story.aspx?content_id=e4bcb64e-83e4-4719-ab41-cb6868640f76
When I initially read this story-it was utter disbelief. How on earth could anyone hurt a baby like this? I cried for days and at one point became obsessed with follow up. I had to stop looking at news at all-and when it was confirmed that the father was not high, or mental or anything-I cried some more. For no apparent reason, this man beat his baby to the point that he could not even be identified as human. My heart just aches thinking of this-and I hope and pray that this little boy is up in heaven running around and being loved as he should have been all along…
Oh and I hope his fucking side show of a father is standing at the pearly white gates getting laughed at by his son-because he is on his way to being Satan’s Bitch.