Episode 2

CRASH tells the story of Luis Miguel Salinas to learn more about Luis and his story please visit https://tinyurl.com/LuisMSchange

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
But my mom kept My mom keptcalling me, you know, throughout that
throughout that month or so, shekept calling me. She kept telling me,
I looked look at to semi pictures, like look at the house,
look at the land, like lookat all this. You know, it's
a beautiful oger. I don't wantto be man. I just want vibe
big man, like I got toomuch can online and my completely and this

(00:25):
is crashed. My mom had ahouse in Riverside, you know, in
the nice in a nice neighborhood,quiet neighborhood, you know, and it
was pretty calm compared to Los Angeles. I was out there leaving with her

(00:46):
and my mom's boyfriend. He hada job with what the company called White's
Golf International, you know, sohe he got me into that, into
that job. I think at thetime in two thousand and three, there
was a project in Las Vegas,so I was working in Las Vegas.
I went out there and we werebuilding a golf course out there, and

(01:07):
I stayed out there probably maybe forlike six months. I want to say
that that job lasted, so youknow, once that job was over,
came back to Riverside, were Riversidefor a little while, and then we
started another job in Latinita, California. So when that job was ending,

(01:29):
it was in uh October November,right. The next job that was coming
up, it was gonna be forthe Dominican Republic. There was going to
be a resort, you know,building a golf course. It was going
to be a sp on the beach, you know, along the beach and
stuff, and you know, alot of a lot of those guys were
gonna go. And they had askedmy my mom's boyfriend to be one of

(01:53):
the supervisors on that job site,you know, but he didn't want to
he didn't want to go. Hewanted to take his vacation because usually you
know, your your own call,right, Like, there's one job and
then there might not be no workfor a few months, and then there's
another job, and you know,so there's not necessarily no vacation because sometimes

(02:14):
you could be out of work fora month or two, so that's kind
of like a vacation. So atthat time, you know, they had
had like at least three or fourjobs back to back, so you know,
he wanted to take a vacation.He's like, now I'm good,
I'm gonna take my vacation for afew months and then you know, let
me know what's up, what's next, what's what else is it? What
other jobs are there? Right inthe past, he had been to Texas,

(02:37):
you know, he had been toTexas to do some jobs out there,
and my mom had gone with him, because sometimes he'll be gone for
months and months, you know,so my mom will go out there for
a couple of months and then goback home. Or it was one time
or chef, she stayed with himthe whole time, you know. So
I guess they liked it. Youknow, it was a very nice The

(02:57):
part of Texas where they moved towas it was like right outside of Fort
Worth, Dallas, you know,and it was a very quiet suburb.
You know, I'm really in thereally nice house. Big house compared to
compared to Riverside. I mean thisthis house spared three times the size of
the house we had in Riverside.You know, they went out there,
well, they had chose, theyhad decided, you know, let's let's

(03:20):
move out out here. You know, they wanted to move out there.
So once that job ended, youknow, they started they put the house
up for sale and at that timeyou know, the housing was was good.
It was a very good time tosell. So it didn't take long
to get the house sold. Soby November of two thousand and four,

(03:42):
they got the household and they're ready. They already found uh, they had
already found the house in Texas.You know, say everything was in motion.
And my mom she kept telling meto come down to Texas with there,
you know, to move out thereand be much better. You know,
it's a not calmer like you know, and everything was good, but

(04:03):
you know, I didn't want togo at that time because I felt like
I wanted to travel. I wantedto go to the Dominican Republic like that.
That had me excited and like goingto that, going to that island,
working getting you know, I wasgoing to get paid. Everything was
gonna get paid. If we're gonnahave our housing paid for, we have
our food paid for, we haveour transportation paid for. All the money

(04:26):
that we made was going to betax free. I didn't have to pay
no taxes because I'm in another country. So it was gonna be like a
vacation man. Like, yeah,we're gonna work, you know, a
long hours, but you know you'regonna be on the beach. So so
I was definitely very excited for that. Man. So I wasn't trying to
leave, like now, you know, when I'm stay here in Kelly,

(04:47):
you know, I'll get a jobin the meantime until they're ready. So
my mom ends up leaving, youknow, they take off. It was
in November for sure, and Iend up going back to Los Angeles to
my dad's place right in the neighborhood, you know, and I'm staying right
there for a little bit. AndI end up getting a job at this

(05:12):
place, the Staples Smart and Finaldistributions to the warehouse. So I'm working,
you know, I'm working the swingshift, working long, long hours,
so during the day. So youknow, that's kind of keeping me
out of the way, keeping outof trouble where I'm not really out out
there like that, you know,but I'm living in the hood. So

(05:32):
it's like, you know, I'mI'm gonna see them, I'm gonna bump
into him. There's gonna be problemsregardless, just because you know the way
I look in the car I'm driving, you know, it's just it's automatic.
Ye look, telling man, notrouble. I don't want beef man.

(05:58):
I just want vibe big man,like I'm gonna too much can online
the way. I didn't want togo back because I knew, you know,
being in that area, you know, it's a lot it's a lot
harder to be there because you know, you walk out your door and you

(06:19):
know, it's it's just instant,like there's gonna be somebody somewhere that's gonna
say something to you, or orthey might not even say nothing to you.
They might just see you and startshooting at you. You know,
So it is it is a dangerousplace for someone that looks like me because,

(06:39):
uh, you know, you know, I'm not a game member.
You know, I mean, I'ma Mexican. You know, I'm I'm
young, I'm I'm bald, likeyou know, it's like they're gonna look
at me and they're gonna think I'ma game and regardless, you know,
even if you know, if Idon't carry myself like one or dress like
one, it doesn't matter that That'sjust the way it in Los Angeles.

(07:01):
Any any young Mexican at ball andlook at kids they grew up in gangs,
deal with the police a lot.So before we go any farre there
in the story. I want totalk a little bit about the police that
Louise was dealing without a kid,cop that patroled Luisa's old neighborhood or from
the LAPD's Rampart Division. The RampartDivision is part of the LAPDS that's responsible
for Westlake, Echo Park and PicoUnion neighborhoods in Los Angeles, the area

(07:26):
where Louise is from. But thecop to deal with gang members in these
areas, they're not regular police,They're from a specialized unit inside the Rampart
Division called Crash. So anytime Louisehad contact with the police as a kid,
it was with one of these Crashofficers. I was taught from the
gate to run. They always saiddon't don't get caught. Then do not

(07:46):
get caught as soon as you hearsomebody say. One time in the neighborhood,
they had a siren, right likeguys would do the siren. I
wasn't really good at it, butit was like like blue, you know,
do a loud assiren, knowing sowe know if the cops are coming,
or they'll click use their tournment werereally loud, you know, the

(08:09):
click and or somebody wi yo onetime, you know, So there was
always some type of signal to letus know that they were in the area,
or they were coming in or whatever. So my first reaction was take
off. So I didn't have asmany encounters as other guys. You know.
There was times that I got caught, yeah, because you know I

(08:31):
was. It was either too slowor I got back into the to the
wrong area. But I knew,I knew them streets like the back of
my head. Man, because Icould run, I could jump of fans,
I could go into this building,I could go out this building like
I knew how everybody ins and outs. Then, so a lot of times
I didn't get caught. You know, I took off, so I wouldn't

(08:52):
even see who was inside the cart. I wouldn't even see what the cop
it was. I was. Iwas done before before. You know,
Crash Dance for Community Resources against streethoodlums. From the name, you would
think it has something to do withcommunity outreach, but it really didn't.
Once uh, I think once ayear they used to have a gathering at

(09:13):
MacArthur Park and all the Rampart policeofficers would be there and they would try
to like kind of do like acommunity thing where people could come and they
try to reach out and try toget close to the community or whatever.
I remember that. I think thatwas only like once a year talk to

(09:33):
you as a little kid, right, But that wouldn't mean that that was
really nothing. Because you're a littlekid, you don't you don't know what's
what's really going on. So whenyou're when you're older, like middle school,
high school, you know, whenyou're really living life involved in all
this other stuff. There was nooutreach prevention or anything like that in our

(09:56):
area. These crash cups. Theydidn't do any community at reach. The
way they acted, it was morelike they were getting themselves. We're trying
to arrest you, you know.For the most part, they were trying
out just beat the crap out ofyou and rob you. So they'll come
around them, like where's the gunsthat he was the guns? Where's the

(10:16):
guns that we just want the guns, And you know, they'll come,
they'll search, maybe they'll find thegun, you know, or or if
they catch somebody and he has agun on them, they'll just take the
gun. They won't even arrest them, you know. Or the same thing
with the drugs. They're coming,they'll look for the drugs, they'll take
the drugs and they'll leave, youknow a lot of times. And later

(10:39):
on it came out, you knowthat they were using them, that they
were basically stealing these guns and thesedrugs and they were using them, they
were planting them, and you know, all this corrupt ship going on.
Well, yeah, they they wantedus to kill each other, you know,
I mean that's one of the maintactics was to get one of us.

(11:01):
Right, they beat the shit outof us, and then the throws
in the car and they'll drive overto whatever neighborhood they know that we're going
at it with and the throws onthe street and they'll hunt their horn and
being aside and make sure people arelooking, to make sure people see and
then and then yell out, youknow, hey, I got so and

(11:22):
so out here. You know.So, like let's say you're from eighteen.
You know, they'll say, hey, I got a fake for you,
come get this fake. You knowthat this that this in that food
neighborhood. And the time the guyscome get them, you know, so
they would there that's what they wanted. And then you know, if stuff

(11:43):
got really bad, if stuff gotreally bad, their their answer was come
in, beat the shit out ofyou and lock you up. You know
whatever. You don't have to havenothing. They just put some shit on
you and lock your ass up.Get trust the streets, let the ship
cool down, let things calm down, you know. And then there was

(12:07):
times too where they instigated ship.You know, they like they run like
we would come to find out,like these motherfuckers are the ones that ship
between between games. You know.So they'll go over to one neighborhood and
they'll tell them something, and thenthey'll come home to another neighborhood and they'll
tell them something, and they seeingall these dudes they're coing, going at
it because what they heard, youknow. So you know, they had

(12:31):
a lot of dirty tactics. Lookto the man, no problem. I
don't want to be man. Ijust want vibe big man like me.
No need at that point, it'sfun. And it's like I said,

(12:52):
they come in and they want youto know that they're in control, that
they run the streets, that theycontrol it, that they're the most powerful
getting in the la you know whatI mean. It's it's it's about the
power it's about being able to basicallythey have they hold us in their head.

(13:13):
You know, I'm talking about likethat, they could fuck us over
at any minute, they could killus and it doesn't matter. You know,
they're not gonna. They're not gonna. There's no consequence for them.
And they didn't known they did it, and they continue to do it.
You know, a lot of theseguys, um. You know, I
think that a lot of those guys, they just they got into that position.

(13:37):
We have that job for that reasonalone, just to be able to
fuck with people, you know,because there's guys that are really about that
job, that really want to help, you know, they're really about the
community, and you know, theydo it for the right reasons. And
then there's guys that are there forthat for the power, and you know,

(13:58):
they do a lot of a lotof grammy stuff, man. And
that's that's in everything, man,Samething with politics, samething with any any
kind of job, man, anythingthat has some kind of power over someone
else. You know, there's alwaysgoing to be some bad apples. You
know. The first time that Luisewas picked up by the police, he
was eleven years old. Just awarning. The story is pretty graphic.

(14:24):
My very first time that the copsactually got me and beat me up,
and they tried to They basically gotme by like thing. They had me
up against to one of the fencesand they had my heads band on my
back and they were like bending myfinger back all the way back, you
know, So that's just painful.Or I was a little kid. I
was maybe eleven, I want tosay, uh, And you know,

(14:48):
they knew I was a little kid, so they were just trying to put
some fear in me. And theywere asking me where do I live?
You know, what am I doingon the street, and all these all
these things, and then they takeme, they me home to my parents,
to my dad, and they droppedme off. That was my very
very first time that they that theygrabbed me like that, you know.

(15:09):
And then there was another incident toowhere there was a few incidents, man,
and one incident where where one ofthe where one of the officers they
got me. They got me.Uh, they have me in the middle
of like this driveway right and it'sjust me by myself because all the other
guys took out running and I wasa slow spool, so I got got

(15:31):
so the schools grabbed me and theymy head, They straightened my tea,
they kept they kept blaze open,you know, and they start frisking me.
And then one confidence god me andthis dude literally grabs my dick.
He grabs it and squeezes it.He's like, what st fucking pepper wood,

(15:52):
and you know, just like dissingme. In my mind, I'm
thinking, you know, and thedude and the foods just like fucking squeezing
my ship, and I'm like,what the fuck I been off? I
like, what the hell? Andthis you want to be a little game
and behind you want to be Iguess you want to be on these streets.
You dont fucking harry with the payboy and you know, just talking

(16:15):
on the ship. You know,I'm still I'm still the kid. So
I think that's why they don't beatthe crap out because they teach it.
I'm still the kids that's wanting tellthe man. And then there was another
encounter where they got me and theyjust started beating the crap out of me.
They just started sucking me up.They chased me because I was running,

(16:36):
and they chased me and they caughtme in the alley and they just
started kicking me and punching me andjust beat the shit out of me.
They didn't arrest me, they putthe cuss from me. They didn't do
shit. They just beat the crapout of me and left me right there
in the fucking alley and they tookout. Hey, what's going on,

(17:03):
everybody? This is like from prisonaudio, And if you're listening to this,
you're probably interested in prison podcast.So I just wanted to take a
chance to tell you about another podcast. The Red Onion Randy Podcast isposted by
my good buddy Randall Ball. Randy'sbeen in prison since the age of eleven.
It's almost thirty years. He's beenseventeen of those years in solitary confinements,
so he definitely has some good storiesto tell. Randy puts out new

(17:23):
episodes every Thursday, and you canfind them on all streaming platforms or check
them out at www dot red OnionRandy dot com. Okay, back to
crash, Yeah, the stadem notas impossible. Let me tell you what

(17:45):
exactly happened on January Tony rinth,two thousand and five. There's a shooting
or a third at Waitner Street inLos Serengeles, California. A man gets
shot two terms, once in thistime and a second time below the waist
near his ground. The victim turnedout to be a guy who lived on
that street and who happened to befrom the Matasawa GA. I never knew

(18:11):
who this guy was. I hadnever seen this guy before. I never
ran into him, I never evenheard about him. On that night,
down the block at the good SamericanHospital, there happened to be some officers
dropping off the patient. According tothem, they heard a gun shot,
so they ran to the middle ofthe street. They heard a second shot.

(18:33):
They looked down the street and fromover three long blocks, they say,
they make out a brown Cadillac leavinggoing northbound. They jumped into their
cruisers and they start chasing. Inever saw the actual shooting occurred, but
I was on the same street whenthe shooting happened. You got to understand
that in this part of Los Angelesand gang violence is an every day of

(18:56):
curbs. You hear gunshots, seedrive bys or even walk ups. There's
murders and robberies. It's a highcrime area. This is a Friday night,
early Saturday morning. There's a veryactive war going on between the gang
I was firm and the well knowneighteen Street gang. There was a constant

(19:18):
back and forth that same week ofthis innocent on that very street, in
broad daylight, in the middle ofthe afternoon, I was dropping off a
friend, taking her home. I'mgoing to westbound on Thirst Street, making
a left on Wimber Street. Therewere some guys on that corner hanging out.
The moment of making the turn,going into Witness, I see a

(19:44):
car with several bald heads. Thedriver is staring right at me. As
I'm going in. I immediately sensedanger, knowlan it's about to go down.
I see everything in slow motion.I recognize the gesture of the driver
grabbing the gun and starting to leanout the window. He sticks the gun

(20:04):
right in my face and starts pullingthe trigger. Somehow, I'm alert enough
to move my head back and helast. He's extending the gun towards me
and leaning to the passenger side.With my right arm, grabbing my friend's
face and pushing it back so shedoesn't get shot. I hear the loud

(20:26):
blast of the gun. I feelthe burn across my face of the bullet
whizz whizzing right by. I hitthe gas all at the same time to
speed through. The other car bustsa bitch and gets right behind me,
and it's still shooting at me.Farther down the block, there are more
guys and they start shooting at thecar, shooting at me. This whole

(20:48):
scene could not have lasted more thana minute or two, but it felt
like eternity. Somehow, my brainswere not blown out that day. So
a few nights later, on Fridaynight, I'm sure the guys on the
block we're already on high alert becauseof the constant gun play. I'm parked
in the driveway in front of abuilding. I'm sitting in the car with
a female friend. We are bothdrinking coronas and listening to the car stereo,

(21:14):
just talking. We're both buzzing me. We're attracted to each other,
so I was trying to enjoy thenight. I know it was well after
two am, because we couldn't buyit any more alcohol. We hear a
gun shot. We know it's closed. My friend is scared. I tell
her to run inside the building.We hear a six shot that's opening the

(21:37):
door and running into the building.I'm trying to keep watch and see where
the shots are coming from so theydon't start shooting at us. I saw
a car speeding towards my direction,going northbound a Winmeer Street. I automatically
ducked down and hide behind my car. My first thought is the dudes from
eighteen came in again. I getback in my car. I noticed a

(22:00):
guy I knew from the neighborhood runningup the street. He's getting close and
recognizes my car. He jumps in. He starts saying, get me out
of here, Come on, getme out of here. I kind of
froze up in my mind. I'mthinking, why did he jump in my
car? I wanted to just say, get the fuck out of my car

(22:22):
go inside the building, but thisguy was older than me and I'm not
from the hood, so I prettymuch feel like I have no choice to
avoiding the issues. I just pullout and start driving northbound. He tells
me to drop him off in frontof Belmont High School. Out of friends.
At this point, I'm not inthe big rush. I would speed

(22:42):
off like crazy. I thought inmy head, I'm just going to drive
up the street, drop this fulloff, and go home. So I
drive up a few blocks on makinga left turn on Second Street, there's
a four way intersection. Go onmy right side. Coming up the hill,

(23:03):
I see a cop car. Imake my turn and the officer follows
behind me. I pulled over tothe side, expecting Hector to get out.
He's about to get out, andcops shine the light on us.
He closes the order and says,let's get the fuck out of here.
Now. I'm like a juggling andstarts pumping. I'm going to panic more.

(23:23):
I just know it's going to beall bad for me as the cops
get us. I never saw Hectorwith the gun, and he never said
he just shot in the room.I only assume someone came into the block
and shot at the guys. Iassume actor just wanted to shake the spot.
I'm pretty much drunk, buzzing realgood, so I'm not thinking straight.

(23:45):
I just wanted to get away.I want to get caught by cops
and beat up, arrested, possiblykilled. I know it's going to be
all bad. Period. We goon a high speed pursuit for a few
blocks. I'm going towards Temple Streetso i can jump on the freeway.
I get to Temple Street and UnionAvenue. I try to get on the
entrance, but I'm going too fastand I hate the embankment that device to

(24:10):
exit and the entrance. My carspins and I ended up doing AE eighty.
I'll make it right down Temple andtry to make a left on Glendoe
Boulevard, but I'm going way toofast. I end up jumping onto the
sidewalk and losing control, slamming intoa life post that's right before the bridge.
I get out of the car withmy hands up, yelling don't shoot,

(24:33):
don't shoot. My own shot isthe comps are gonna kill me.
I keep one hand in the airand with the other, I grabbed my
shirt from the neck and pull offmy shirt and jacket. I throw it
on the ground and start slowly turningin a circle, yelling don't shoot.
Officers immediately swarm me. I grabbedthe changing fence so I wouldn't hit the

(24:56):
ground and crack my hand and costour punch even kick you, I mean
hitting my hand so I can letgo. I'm just yelling, calm down,
calm down. My hand breaks threefrom the fence and I hit the
ground. Look, I'm telling man, no trouble. I don't want beef

(25:19):
man. I just want vibe bigman like me. No. So I
remember, you know, it wasa Friday, and that day I didn't
work. I just got paid.So my whole plan for that day was
the goal, get my check,cash, go, get my hair cut,

(25:44):
wash my car, have lunch,you know, and and then uh
come home. And I was lookingfor a car because at the time I
had this brown Cadillac nineteen eighty fourkind of like Helter, and that car
was a straight gas puzzler, youknow, So I really wanted another car

(26:06):
that I would save money on.And also too that that car was already
kind of burned like it was ayou know, it was just that that
gangster looking cars. So I wantedto get rid of it already. So
I remember, you know, mysister I told me that she wanted to
go to the mall and stuff,and so I told it she would come
with me to look for a car. So we ended up going down to

(26:33):
the Glendale. Then in Glendale there'sa bunch of car dealerships and there's a
big mall called to Glendale Galleria.So we're out there and we're going to
all all different kinds of all differentspots, and I finally come to this
one spot and I find this littlehound that I liked. It was like
a ninety six ninety seven little twodoor Civic. So, you know what

(27:00):
I tell her, It was alreadykind of late. It was already uh,
pretty much already going to be closing. So, you know, I
tell the director, so, okay, this is the car one. You
know. I come back on Mondayand signed the paperwork and bringing it down
payment and do all that, youknow. So right after that, we
end up going to the mall BlendaGalleria, and it's me and my sister

(27:21):
and she has three three little kids, my little nephew, you know,
one of the I think the oldestwas like six or seven at the time,
and then like a four four yearold and a little two year old.
So walking on the mall and stuff, you know, going to different
stores like Jason Tammy, Macy's,stuff like that, and I get a

(27:41):
call, you know, Betty callsme up and I will sell man already
doing what's going on. And Itell her that all my heir at the
mall and my sister we're shopping andstuff, and she I stopped by come
through. You know, we're goingto kick it with you, and I'm
like, nah, I can't.You know, I gotta to work in
the morning, because that was thewhole thing I had to go. Usually

(28:03):
I didn't work on Saturdays, butthat weekend we had to do overtime.
We had to come in on Saturdaywhen we had to come in early.
My shift, my usual shift wasthe swing shift, so I would start
at four o'clock and my shift wouldbe over by midnight. But pretty much
every night there was always overtime,so I will usually stay for at least

(28:25):
two hours. You know, Iwouldn't get home. I wouldn't get off
until like two am. I wouldn'tget home until like two thirty. So
you know, I already knew,like man, I had to get up
early. I'm not trying to goout and trying to do nothing. I'm
just trying to go home and goto sleep, you know. And I
was a plan, you know.So she calls me and she tells me
this, and I'm telling now,I'm good, I'm good, and I

(28:48):
hung up, and then where wecontinue shopping and stuff, and then she
calls me again, still to comeon man, come through. I want
to kick it, you know,And I'm like, nah, I'm good,
you know. And by the timewe're leaving them all like it's already
late, it's already probably like umit was our plass, like nine o'clock,

(29:08):
made close to ten o'clock, andshe calls me again, and you
know, she's blowing me up.Man, she's gone me. She she
wants me to come through, youknow. So you know, I know
that I should have just stayed homebecause I was the plan. I was
just go home, get up early, go to wood. But you know,
she she kept blowing even after Itold the no. On the drive

(29:33):
home, I'm thinking about it.I'm thinking about it, you know,
and I'm like, man, shereally wants to kick it, so,
you know, I'm definitely definitely gonnahave a good time. No so at
then by the time we get home, I'm already like, man, you
know, what the fuck it,I'm gonna go. Man, I'm gonna
kick it with her, and shewhat's up? You know, so assumes
that we get off the car.You know, I told my sister,

(29:56):
I'm gone, I'm gonna go.I'm gonna go kick it, and she's
like na, No, I don'tgo over. Just just go go and
go sleep, you know, andnow I'll be back on bench and go
and kick it and I'll be back, you know. So I jumped in
my car and I go down thereand I meet up with her, you
know, and you know, let'sstart kicking it with her. But at
the end of the day, youknow, I was like, man,

(30:18):
I should just stuck to my plans. I should I should have followed my
instinct post, which was not togo out there night, you know.
And that's that's what got me,Hoda. That's the reason why I was
there in the first place. Soit's just it's just the power, the
power of the female man. Youknow. She just kept blowing me U.
So I'm like, man, fuckinglet's go, let's do this,

(30:41):
all right, what's going on?Everybody? It's Mike. And that was
the second episode of crash Um.I hope that you enjoyed it. Uh,
there's a lot more to come inthe story, so please keep listening.
If you're interested in hearing more ofour podcasts, then learn more about
what we do, please visit ourwebsite. It's www dot prison audio dot
com. You can also find uson all social media at Prison Audio or

(31:03):
on YouTube at Prison Audio. Uhplease follows, like, comment, subscribe.
All that all right, we'll talkto you soon. Look, tell
a man, no trouble. Idon't want beast man. I just want
vibes. Big man like me.No need for the telephone hide. I
got too much geting online. Won'trule the Telemo site. Wrong move,

(31:25):
but they're gonna ride. No