Oct. 23--MODESTO -- They acted without hesitation to save a 15-year-old girl from a sexual assault, police said.
This evening, five homeless men -- Ken Falls, Joe Barretta, Curtis Mitchell, David Brier and Mandel Haynes -- are expected to receive a commendation from the Modesto City Council.
City officials wanted to honor them for the heroic assistance they gave to police in subduing a registered sex offender accused of attacking the girl on a Modesto transit bus in September. Some of the men took action despite their physical ailments.
On the morning of Sept. 18, the five men were riding a Modesto Area Express bus from the Gospel Mission to downtown. They had stayed at the mission the previous night, as had 37-year-old Kevin Michael Long, who just had been released from Corcoran State Prison and paroled to Modesto.
The 15-year-old girl was riding the crowded bus to school and happened to take a seat not far from Long.
As the bus traveled through the downtown streets, witnesses said, the parolee made unwanted sexual comments to the girl and then lunged at her, grabbing the girl's private parts. Barretta and Falls quickly took hold of the man, pulled him away from the girl and wrestled him to the floor of the bus, police said.
Barretta has a bad hip and Falls has his foot in a brace because of an infection. Long kept struggling, prompting Mitchell and Brier to help hold him down, police said.
The bus soon approached 10th and G streets, next to the Modesto Police Department. The bus driver was on the radio with a 911 dispatcher when Haynes got off the bus and went into the police station to report the assault to officers.
Police met the bus at the Transit Center on Ninth Street, where Long was arrested.
Councilman Dave Lopez said the five heroes deserve official recognition. "It really points out we are an entire community in Modesto where everybody participates," he said. "They saw someone who was in trouble and they jumped in. I don't care what their situation in life is, they took action when we needed them to. We appreciate what they did."
Long is in custody and set for a pretrial hearing Friday. He faces charges of sexual assault, lewd acts with a minor, sexual battery and violation of parole.
A few gifts
The heroes have received other recognition since the incident. The Modesto Area Express service gave them thank-you letters and bus passes for the month of October. The Stanislaus County Office of Education honored them with certificates, a superintendent's medallion and $20 Wal-Mart gift cards.
Falls said he has not seen the girl or talked with her family since the assault. "Her friends said she did not want to get on the bus anymore," he said.
Barretta said he does not expect any rewards for rescuing the teenager. "I have not done a lot of spectacular things in my life. After a couple of days, it sunk in that we had done something precious for someone," he said.
Haynes recently told The Bee he was upset there seemed to be no supervision of the sex offender after his release from prison.
Jill Silva, chief probation for Stanislaus County, said Long was paroled after serving his sentence and was the responsibility of the state parole system. She said Long was not released as part of statewide public safety realignment, which has given county probation departments responsibility for lower-level offenders discharged from prison.
Assault record
According to court records, Long had a 1996 conviction for two counts of assault with intent to commit rape and, after a 2004 arrest, was convicted of threatening to commit a crime that would result in death or great bodily injury.
Bee staff writer Ken Carlson can be reached at [email protected] or (209) 578-2321.
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