E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSView more videos at: http://nbclosangeles.com.
Published at 6:20 a.m. ET: An on-duty mailman was arrested Monday after allegedly choking an 11-year-old girl who was supposedly taunting him after the letter carrier inadvertently walked into the women's bathroom at a park, U.S. Postal Service and law enforcement officials said Tuesday.
Daniel Villasenor, 55, allegedly choked the young girl after she laughed at him when he accidentally stepped into the women's restroom at Bristow Park in Commerce, southeast of downtown Los Angeles, on Monday, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department.
Several witnesses corroborated the girl's story, sheriff's officials said. Villasensor was found nearby and arrested.
More news from NBCLosAngeles.com
The 31-year Postal Service employee is on unpaid leave while the investigation continues, said Richard Mahe, spokesman for USPS. The incident is also being probed by the U.S. Postal Inspection Service.
NBC4's attempts to contact Villasenor's family for comment were declined late Tuesday. But Villasenor's neighbor in Temple City, Calif., Leo Ferraris, described the letter carrier as a "hell of a guy" who never lashed out. accus
"He'll be barbecuing stuff and he'll say, 'I've got stuff to bring over to you so don't fix dinner tonight,'" Ferraris said.
Villasenor was jailed on $100,000 bail and had been booked on one felony count of willful cruelty to a child.
Authorities said they would not be releasing a booking photo of Villasenor.
Leave a Comment:
Wonder if the witnesses were friends of the victim? This is all too out of proportion but at least he didn't throw her off the roof like some "children" seem to do nowadays.
That's what I was wondering. I suspect there is a lot more to this story than is printed here.
Well... I'm sure she won't go laughing at people anymore now?
Guy should have just pepper sprayed or whacked her with a stick like any other dog that tried to bite him. After 31 years she was probably the straw that broke the camels back. $100,000 bail seem a bit out of line here. At least there's one good out come, the kid will think before opening her pie hole.
Well, at least by this summer this sort of thing will no longer happen on Saturday.
Is this what they call Going Postal? What the hell is wrong with people? It is best to keep to yourself and friends because you don't know who you will piss-off by laughing or pointing at them. They could Go Postal and harm or kill you in a heart beat. Then someone comes out and states (he was a nice guy... wouldn't harm a flea...I just can not believe it), well folks got news for you, it could be anyone.
they didn't say what happened. why dose every time something happens everyone believes the kid. plenty of times the kid is a rotten lying punk trouble maker and they do things knowing everybody will believe them. i would want to hear the the whole story before i say anything about it. allegedly choked the young girl . and the funny people should hope it never happens to them.
Read....Several witnesses corroborated the girl's story, sheriff's officials said.
Witnesses that are probably her friends.
The $100,000 bail is a little high for all the witnesses to be her friends. Do you have information we don't Jordan, or are you just pulling things out of your anus?
Anyone who's seen Full Metal Jacket knows that choking is an effective cure for out of control smiling/laughter. Probably a bad context here, but kids who don't respect adult strangers are probably little f***s with scumbag parents anyway. I'm not talking about a little laugh (I don't know what happened here), or a kid who is hanging out with rowdy friends and has a rare, bad day, I mean those kids who walk around and look at you like you're part of their ridiculously spoiled little fairy tale that their lazy, child-worshiping parents create and you're going to put up with s*** from them like they're your equal. I usually look back at them like "I'll hit you with everything I've got like a grown man" (which of course I wouldn't, but if their so called father was around..).
We now live in a society where a laugh or a look can get you choked, beaten or worse yet murdered. Who cares how she laughed the point being who in their right mind would choke a 11 year old for whatever reason? The $100,000 bail shows exactly how callous and serious this was (witnesses reported) because if it just was she said vs he said he probably would be arrested and let out on less then $2,000. If anyone promotes violence for such behavior then they are part of the problem. I am believing if someone choked your child for laughing in class or anywhere you would be UP IN ARMS.
Good post, Alan. It is troubling that so many people on here think the girl deserved being choked for giggling at a guy walking into a ladies room. At 11, that is probably pretty funny.
Every time I come on here, I lose a little faith in humanity.
You two represent a far worse problem in society, a combination of lack of intelligence coupled with being phony, e.g. phony outrage, disingenuously taking offense, etc. At no part of my post did I seriously condone choking an 11-year-old. This is supported by my statement "probably bad context here" And at no point did the story characterize the girl's ridicule. I merely used this situation to comment on how disgusting it is when parents abuse their children by not disciplining them or teaching them respect, and specifically differentiated that situation from a girl giving a little giggle at a guy walking into a ladies room, or an occasional lapse into bad behavior or rudeness.
And frankly, while yes this guy is a psycho and yes this is not appropriate in any similar circumstance, society is vastly more damaged by vile parents who blatantly neglect disciplining their children than it is by the occasional psycho. It's a well-deserved catharsis for those of us subjected to this defiling of decency to imagine one of these children getting all at once choked into being an actual human being, albeit not realistic nor probably applicable in this situation, because again, I don't know that this girl didn't just give an understandable little giggle. Then again, it might have been a snotty, petulant, look an adult straight in the eye and laugh, "I believe I'm the precious little flower my parents believe I am", blatantly disrespectful laugh. I would never raise a child like that, and yes I can get a guilty satisfaction imagining one of these potential misery-spreaders choked, although in reality I'd never allow or condone it.
Good post, Bill L. No one thus far has cited racial tension as a possible underpinning to this episode, but Commerce CA has seen its share of black-Latino turf wars. I would be curious to know if this 'public' park is in reality a de facto no man's land, and the site of prior racial strife. It's one thing to expect a grown man to maintain a professional demeanor in neutral surroundings, quite another to expect it in hostile territory. And, yes, who were the witnesses? Most likely minors; we may never know. . .
Bill L.
I am happy that you can label myself and others that WE are the problem. Since you absolutely do not know me from Adam your claims are exactly what they appear to be full of BS. Yes I have seen Full Metal jacket, in fact just last week. I liked the movie, but that is exactly what it is "a movie", period. The Drill Sgt. was an absolute moron for treating others in that manner if that were Real Life. What it has to do with a stranger choking a 11 year old girl I have no idea. Maybe you were trying to humor us and NOT really meaning , some of us need a choke here or there to straighten us out. If that is your way of parenting then its YOU that is the problem. This is NOT about this child on why she laughed. It's about the perpetrator, period! There is no reason for ANYONE to choke a 11 year old child for laughing, smiling, looking, talking or most anything normal in life. The child committed NO CRIME whatsoever. That being said what is your beef with me? Since this person is in jail with a $100,000 bail and witnesses against him I think I will stand on the child's side no matter who her parents are.
You seem a little defensive there, Lumbergh. I wasn't referring to you in my post, but the hundreds of other posters that think that girl desreved to be choked by a stranger.
Thanks for saying I lack intelligence and am phony, though. That was classy.
Not right now, Lumbergh, I'm kinda busy. In fact, look, I'm gonna have to ask you to just go ahead and come back another time. I got a meeting with the Bobs in a couple of minutes.
Bob,
Way to weasel out.
I usually find it's best to fire someone on a Friday. There's less chance of an incident that way.
Homer Simpson School of Adult - Child communication, matriculated another successful graduate!
Kids!...you gotta show them how much you lov'em in concrete, easily understood ways. Have you hugged your kid... or any kid today!
I doubt just laughing at someone for doing something that would be admittedly laughable is all there is to this story. The 11 yr. old is probably another out of control brat who needs some discipline. While choking may have been going too far, an ear bend and hauling off to the parents would be perfectly in-line.
She's lucky. He could have used the pepper spay for dogs.
I suspect there was more than just simply "taunting laughter" going on there, and I would be interested in knowing if the witnesses were her friends or if they were strangers who would have no reason to back up her story. We have only one side of this story, so I'll reserve judgment except to say that if all of the facts are exactly as reported here, he should go to jail and lose his pension, and she should get a smack on the behind by her parents.
Whoa there lil' buckaroo... Thirty one years of doing the right thing and you say he should lose his pension? How do you justify pulling that litle bit of nasty out of your anus?If a Cop, can lose it - then kill a pedestrian for not getting out of the way when he was rushing to a crime scene... but not showing lihts and siren.. and still retire with his pension. seems that this little picadillow with the mail carrier is much lower on the scale of reasonable retrilbutiom.
Some might say he was out of control; but after deliberation,... I say he took one for the team.
Yes, he will likely go to jail for a while, or have to attend Anger management classes, and renounce his "evil ways". But when you look at the Big picture, this is one less deranged brat who'll not go "Postal" in High school one day.
The mailman is just frustrated because he loves his job and he really wants to deliver mail on Saturdays, but now he can't and he's just acting out.
There have been plenty of kids that deserved getting the crap choked out of them. Most of them, actually.
If he loses his job we will probably be off the hook when it comes to his sweet retirement pension. That girl saved us tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Was it a Federal Offense?
Are they still in business?
I thought they'd been outworked and under-priced by UPS and FedEx and, ultimately, replaced by that new thing called "the internet" awhile ago.
Under-priced? Have you tried mailing a letter using UPS or FedEx? About 1000% or higher than USPS.
Try giving UPS $0.46 cents, have them come to your house, pick up the letter, and transport it across the country in 3 to 4 days.
Just give him a 10 dollar fine and let him go.
While there is absolutely no excuse for the actions of the mailman, an 11-year old (or any minor) taunting and mouthing off to an adult is totally unacceptable. Perhaps she will think twice about shooting her mouth off next time.
Some of the comments are hilarious!! Thank you (Domewar) Any way, think if it was YOUR little girl getting choked by this man for laughing! He wouldn't be a mailman any longer for he wouldn't be able to walk or talk because his teeth would have been knocked out of his mouth and he would be in a hospital!
YOU DON'T PUT YOUR HANDS OF CHILDREN AND WOMAN.
Teeth knocked out if he is lucky. I can imagine a CCW permit holder walking up, seeing a 50-year old "man" choking an 11-year old girl, shoot first, then ask questions. And that man or woman would be a hero in my book.
All the prositive comments for the postal worker, when there were witnesses stating he choked the girl.
Let that be your 11 year old daughter that did something stupid/laughed and lets see how you respond when some one chokes your kid or worse! I bet you won't be saying she deserved it.
think people
Everyone has that " I could just hurt that kid " kind of day. It is however not a good idea to actually hurt a child.
It dose sound like this kid was a total brat and she probably will think 2 times from now on before being a dipstick to people but, yeah, it is to bad that this guy acted the way he did. This was no reason to lose everything over.
Keep your F$%&ing hands off our kids you government employed low life POS, or maybe one of us DAD's might just choke the living S#!T out of YOU!
Yeah, you could have choked him out if you where her dad and then you would have been in a cell with him. Unless you can show that your use of force was necessary to safeguard your child, you would be in just as much trouble.
Man chokes little girl. What should we do in this situation, QE137? Sit by and watch? Give pointers? I think any respectable dad would at least knock the perp out. And no respectable police officer with the facts would bat an eye. Jail? Hardly.
Depends on if the assailant had already let go. If he had and you knock him out, you would indeed be on the hot seat.
Self defense and defense of others applies to on going harm, or a reasonable expectation of on going harm. Your first instinct is to undo the harm being done and get the child to safety. If you push to far your kid will be looking at her father behind bars.
I know bravado is king to some guys, but it would be a real shame to find that you where wrong about the police not wanting to take you into custody.
Would a judge convict you of any wrong doing? That is another matter. The story is not clear on how hard the child was choked or how long and if it required others to remove the mail man. Rest assured though, if you nail a guy after he has stopped being a threat, you'll be in a cell.
I'd rather be in jail than let a deranged lunatic assault an 11-year old girl.
I would rather be with my kid.
Then again, I look at these situations as a person who is in and of him self thought of as a form of weapon as par my high level of defense training. I have to be careful how that training is used. I will always use the minimum force necessary to keep myself, family and friends safe. For me, doing anything less invites lots of unnecessary pain dealing with law enforcement.
The eleven year old girl will be allright
Who were the "witnesses"? Were they friends of the girl? Define "choking". Who reported this story?
We are losing all sense of common sense in this country. This little bitch is going to cost thsi guy his career. maybe he needs some kind of punichment like anger management but to be in jail on such a high bail is just stupid.
That's the problem with you conservatives, you never want people to take responsibilty for their own actions. The mailman ruined his own career (and hopefully his pension) all by himself. I doubt a little girl giggling at him would have ruined his career. Him choking her, however, will.