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By Pauline Vu

Daily Bruin Senior Staff

UCLA redshirt freshman linebacker Asi Faoa was arrested for hitting another student who is now suffering from brain damage.

Faoa, 19, was arrested on June 16 and charged with one count each of mayhem and assault after a May 30 altercation with third-year psychology student Rodrigo DeZubiria, 22.

The incident occurred at a Lambda Chi block party on Strathmore and Gayley in celebration of the Inter-sorority Volleyball Tournament. According to defense lawyer Milton Grimes, Faoa and DeZubiria collided repeatedly in a mosh pit at the party. Then Faoa struck DeZubiria with his elbow once. DeZubiria was said to have been intoxicated at the time.

After he was struck, DeZubiria fell to the ground. Though the prosecution says that the combination of Faoa’s hit and the impact of hitting the ground caused DeZubiria’s brain damage, the defense says it was solely the fall that put DeZubiria in his present state.

DeZubiria is recuperating at his San Francisco home. The brain damage he received affected the part of his brain that controls speaking, reading, writing, comprehension and other areas of language.

“I was very frightened for him, and upset that something like this could occur at a respected university, and by someone who is supposed to represent that school in a positive way,” said DeZubiria’s mother, Deborah Wirth.

Faoa’s arrest came as a surprise to his family.

“We were shocked,” said Kim Faoa, Asi’s mother. “Because that’s not our son – Asi would not hit anybody. As parents, we were very hurt that somebody can do something like that, destroy our son like that. He’s just not that person.”

Faoa, 19, has been indefinitely suspended from the football team.

“The suspension is consistent with past precedent,” UCLA Athletic Director Peter Dalis said in a statement. “We will investigate the situation before making any other decisions.”

At his arraignment on Monday, June 19, Faoa pled not guilty to both charges. His preliminary hearing was set for July 10 and his bail, originally set at $100,000 at the time of his arrest, was lowered to $25,000. After the arraignment Faoa was taken to the Los Angeles County Jail.

By midnight of Tuesday, however, his family had raised the money needed to post bail, with help from family members, friends, and the local community in Anaheim, Faoa’s hometown.

Also, when the Anaheim community learned of Faoa’s arrest, many people came forward to offer themselves as witnesses to his character.

“There are people here who love him and who believe in their hearts that our son is not the person that they said he was or accused him of being,” Kim Faoa said. “The support has been so marvelous.”

The prosecution and defense have varying accounts on who was the aggressor of the fight on May 30.

According to deputy district attorney Dana Garcetti and Wirth, who spoke to the detective on the case and to several students who have come to visit DeZubiria, Faoa started the fight.

“Asi was challenging people to fight,” Garcetti said. “He was asking something like, ‘Do you want a piece of me?’”

According to Wirth nobody would fight with Faoa, and so he hit a nearby student who happened to be DeZubiria.

“Rodrigo didn’t even see the blow coming; he was totally blindsided and thrown down, striking his head on the concrete,” she said. “He was knocked unconscious.”

Faoa’s lawyer, Milton Grimes, tells a different story.

Grimes said DeZubiria was the aggressor, that he punched Asi in the eye and Faoa struck back once.

“We don’t know all that happened. It seems unlikely that Asi would provoke a fight. At worst, he was defending himself,” he added.

According to Garcetti and Wirth’s accounts, there was no evidence of anybody threatening Faoa.

“I know that Asi is claiming Rodrigo hit him first, but that is untrue,” Wirth said. “The police report and witnesses to the incident say the attack was totally unprovoked.”

But the defense’s story is the opposite of this.

“It appeared to be a reaction of self-defense on Asi’s part,” Grimes said. “It wasn’t his fault.”

According to Kim Faoa, when her son came home a few days after the incident, his eye was black and bleeding from the hit it had taken.

Should Faoa be found guilty, the prosecution has not yet decided what punishment it will seek for him. Garcetti said prison is an option, but added, “It depends on how facts come out at the preliminary hearing.”

Both DeZubiria and Faoa’s families feel the effects of the fight.

“The medical costs are quite high,” Wirth said of treatment for her son. “The insurance helps, but does not cover everything, and treatment will continue for quite some time.

“Rodrigo has also lost time from school and work. I have taken an unpaid leave from work to care for him so I am incurring wage loss as well,” she added.

Kim Faoa sees an injustice done against her son. The time between the fight and his arrest, Faoa had not been aware of the extent of DeZubiria’s injuries, and had no idea that he might be in legal trouble. His June 16 arrest at his dormitory was a complete shock to him.

“Why was my son not questioned by police officers in this matter? They just showed up and arrested him,” she said.

“I just hope this whole ordeal doesn’t affect him, that he can go on with his education. Something like this can destroy somebody.”

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