Gang Rape Witness Describes Attack

Salvador Rodriguez, 21 (AP Photo/Richmond Police Department)

We brought this up briefly yesterday, but we thought it best to touch on it again. Salvador Rodriguez, 21, who was initially charged with the brutal rape and beating of the Richmond High School student wants to clear his name. He's come out to the media to talk about what he saw happen that night. And the details are pretty graphic.

According to authorities, 15-year-old Cody Smith was the one who lured the girl "to a secluded area of the campus where she began drinking with them." Rodriguez told KTVU, “I was there, sitting down (on a bench in the alleyway) minding my own business and I see this girl. She just walks around from nowhere; she didn’t hop no fence or nothing. She just went straight through the opening.”

Then, things got ugly. Rodriguez continues:

“Before she even sat down she drank half a bottle and I went, ‘Whoa.’ I never saw anyone do that before. She got up to throw up and everyone started going crazy. I tried to stop it, I told them, ‘Hey, man that’s not cool.’”

Rodriguez said the group around the young girl saw someone who was drunk and vulnerable. According to the charges in the case, that group included Smith, Ari Morales, 16; Marcelles Peter, 17; and Richmond residents Manuel Ortega, 19; Jose Montano, 18; and Elvis Torrentes, 21.

“They saw someone who was vulnerable and they felt like attacking,” he said. “Let’s go for it. They didn’t say anything like that but that was their instinct. You could feel the vibe in the air. They were just a bunch of animals.”

The attackers then began removing the girl’s clothes, Rodriguez said.

“They started tearing them (the girl’s clothes) off and I tried to get them to stop,” he said. “They tried to take pictures, but I slapped the phone out of their hands…They were kicking her and beating her… I just remember hearing her screaming… They were saying, ‘Shut up bitch, stop screaming.”