Former ASG President Case File Offers Conflicting Stories

Student+government+president+Christopher+Washington+leads+the+Associated+Student+Government+meeting+on+Tuesday%2C+Sept.+18%2C+2018.

Photo by: Larry Valenzuela

Student government president Christopher Washington leads the Associated Student Government meeting on Tuesday, Sept. 18, 2018.

New details have emerged regarding the arrest of former ASG President Christopher Washington which offer contradicting details on what happened the night of his alleged sexual encounter with two women, one of them underage.

In an arrest report from the Fresno City College Campus Police Department, Washington and the two women, a 17-year-old an 18-year-old, were making a loud disturbance in a hallway of the Math Science building. Rachel Tamayo, a faculty member, told the three to leave the area because they were disturbing classes.

Moments later Tamayo was informed by a few of her students that the three people were engaging in sexual activities in the women’s restroom on the west side of the Math Science building.

The witnesses called officers, who later entered the restroom and discovered three people in the far stall. Officers saw the feet of the three people shuffling around and demanded they open the door. In the report, officers said Washington was reluctant to open the stall but eventually complied.

The officers entered the bathroom and discovered that the three had been drinking. The 18-year-old was seated on the toilet with her pants and underwear down and was not responsive to the officers’ verbal commands. The officers called emergency medical services for the 18-year-old fearing that she may be suffering from alcohol poisoning.

Officers began searching Washington’s person and found a mostly empty bottle of Bacardi in his backpack.

One witness told officers she walked into the restroom and heard moaning. She peered into the stall and saw a man (Washington). She told officers she was able to get three short videos of the incident.

According to the report, the video allegedly documents the 17-year-old performing oral copulation on the 18-year-old, while Washington can be seen with his pants down masturbating while touching the 18-year-old near her groin area.

Washington was brought to the police department for questioning. Washington made several apparently false statements. He claimed he purchased the alcohol across town, in a liquor store near Fresno State. He also claimed that the 18-year-old was already drunk when he arrived on campus, and that he was merely taking care of her.

Officers found out that this was not true, as Washington was seen in surveillance footage buying alcohol from a liquor store on Blackstone and McKinley using the 17-year-old’s money.
Washington also denied that any sexual encounter took place. Officers asked Washington if video evidence of a sexual encounter existed. Washington repeatedly stated that there was no video.

Washington was expressly forbidden from setting foot on campus following the incident. He was arrested the next day when he returned to campus anyway.

An attorney of the 17-year-old, Michael McKneely, said his client did not know Washington until she met him that day. She told her attorney Washington introduced himself as “the person in charge here” and was trying to impress his client.

Washington and the client exchanged numbers and he kept texting her, Washington then invited her to drink with him. The 17-year-old and Washington began drinking two 4 Lokos that were purchased with her money.

The two then met up with the 18-year-old who was already intoxicated and drank some more with her. McKneely client said that Washington kept talking about having a three-way with the two women.

McKneely said that Washington attempted to kiss his client and the 18-year-old. McKeenly said that both women felt uncomfortable. The two women then attempted to get away from Washington by hiding in the women’s restroom in the Math Science Building and hiding in a stall. The 17-year-old said Washington followed the two into the bathroom and climbed under the stall to get to them.

McKneely said that his client does not have any memory of what happened in the stall after this.
But in the police report the 17-year-old stated that her and the 18-year-old became intimate in the stall.

McKneely said that the video taken by witnesses were really misinterpreted by police. The 18-year-old was taken to the hospital but the 17-year-old was taken into custody and questioned about what had happened.

McKneely said that after a few days on Monday Oct. 22 officers arrested the 17-year-old and was taken to juvenile hall. He said that they were treating the case as a sexual assault and going off the police report from the college police, the District Attorney was charging his client with oral copulation with a person who couldn’t consent because of intoxication.

McKneely said that his client was being taken advantage of the his client and that his client was victim not a suspect. His client was told due to the investigation that she will not be able to return to school.

The 18-year-old said in a statement to police she made while in the hospital that she had no memory of what had happened in the bathroom stall. She later said that she would not of consented to something sexual if she was not under the influence of alcohol and would be supporting prosecution.

“Washington was making suggestive comments with the 18-year-old and was sending unasked for pictures of his genitalia to her.” McKneely said, “I believe that all bets are off because my client is unable to consent because she’s a juvenile Washington took advantage of her in this situation”

“This is not a situation that either of the two women would of been in willingly if not for the alcohol that Washington had provided him.”