Investigation: Bay Area Boxing

Tonight’s was an especially sad story to report. Keith Benjamin died this summer during a boot camp at 3rd Street Boxing Gym. The autopsy report concluded he died from blunt force trauma. Benjamin left behind a wife and two young children. Who knows if Benjamin would still be alive, had the gym followed rules set by the sport’s governing body, USA Boxing? You can read more of the issues in our script from tonight.

You can get a glimpse into what drew Keith Benjamin to boxing in his blog. He started the blog to give his perspective as a venture capitalist, but he often reflected on his personal life. He describes his first fight at 3rd Street Gym, during which he suffered a concussion.

We got a lot of reaction from our story last night into private shows at some of the most exclusive clubs in San Francisco, featuring amateur boxers as young as eight years of age. Here’s a sampling.

From Anonymous: “I attended the Boxing Event reported on at the City Club. I was asked by a friend, and only knew the event was to include black-tie attire, dinner, and boxing. After dinner, we headed down the stairs to wait for the boxing matches to begin, and there were about 10 - 15 kids warming up near the elevators. I was stunned at the age of the boxers. Some looked as though they were only 11 or 12 years old. I had assumed that the boxers would be adults. I talked myself out of immediate guilty feelings by thinking that maybe some portion of the $120 ticket I paid for was going to help these children, or that perhaps a star would be born that Friday night. But it became increasingly clear that these were underprivileged, inner city, ethnic minority kids putting on a show for the ‘rich white folks.’ I felt like I had stepped back in time, and none of it sat well with me. I only stayed to watch the first match of three rounds. I was uneasy about what I was watching, where I was, and what I was participating in. I don't know the rules. I only knew that I was invited to an event and I accepted, hoping to meet some influential people (I am out of work and thought perhaps I could meet a job connection). I believe that we (City Club attendees including myself) should take some responsibility here, however, the parents/guardians and boxing clubs are ultimately responsible for putting these children in this archaically oppressive situation. One of the scantily clad ring girls was the daughter of the announcer. I am glad that ABC news exposed this exploitive trend.”

From an organizer inside amateur boxing: “While the athletic commission was critical of amateur boxing they need to take jurisdiction over amateur boxing since USA Boxing is condoning these events by turning a blind eye to the profit making. Also many of those you interviewed will manage these amateurs when they become professional boxers and professional boxing is worse business. Great reporting.”

From a viewer in Sebastopol: “I am aghast at seeing the young 8 yr olds fighting in a boxing ring for the bored and rich...its amoral and disgusting and abusive. Shame on all involved! Betting on children hurting each other is beneath contempt! Have we lost our common decency?”

From a viewer in Oakland: “Thank you I-Team for this fighting investigation. I AM OUTRAGED at the fact that these kids are objects of entertainment for wealthy adults. I am sure these kids are Latinos and African Americans. There is no money for education nor opportunities for Latino immigrant kids but there is money for using them as puppets. I hope you repeat this story. I am going to make sure other people hear about it and more importantly, that parents speak up against it. Amateur fighting is part of many teens in Latin America, but not the way is seeing here. Again, these kids are used as objects, and so the ring girls who truly look like little girls.”

Your comments are important to us. We read and consider every one.

“Human Pit Bull Fights”

That’s the expression we heard from several people inside the boxing industry, describing private shows at some of San Francisco’s most exclusive clubs featuring amateur boxers, some as young as eight years of age. Several amateur coaches tell us they won’t bring their boxers to private shows because of the “no parent rule”. The head of Mateen Boxing in Sacramento tells me he stopped going to the private shows: “It’s like cows. You herd the boxers in and herd them out. We have to give the kids a positive attitude. It’s up to the coaches to make good decisions.”

At the Olympic Club, the youngest fighters are usually 17. In today’s report, we show how members of the Olympic Club bet on the amateur fights. The lead inspector from the California State Athletic Commission tells us gambling is against the law: “It’s immoral. It’s not right.” The Olympic Club released this statement today:

“The Gentleman Jim Corbett Night at the Olympic Club is a private event held annually for our members in honor of the long history of boxing at the Olympic Club. San Francisco native James John "Gentleman Jim" Corbett was both a member and a boxing coach at the Olympic Club. The event features amateur boxers who participate in a clean and safe environment and who are examined by doctors before and after each fight. As well, emergency technicians and an ambulance are present should an emergency arise. This event complies with all Federal, State, and local laws and the Olympic Club takes all available measures to protect the interests of these athletes.”

They did not directly address the firsthand accounts we received about gambling at the annual Olympic Club fight night.

In today’s report, we show you how Local Boxing Committee President Jerry Maxwell tells us he’s unaware of the gambling at the Olympic Club, even though he’s attended several fights there. Maxwell’s term as president runs out January 1st. The incoming president is Oscar Ortiz, the Napa County Sheriff’s Sergeant who organizes the Silver Gloves Tournament, a more traditional event for amateur boxing. He’s an opponent of the private shows, and he invited us back next year to see the steps he plans on taking “to clean up the sport.”

“We Erased It”

Tonight, we focus on San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom’s use of police escorts and his state-of-the-art hybrid SUV, purchased with tax dollars -- whether taxpayers should be paying for his security detail when he goes on private trips and events. Tax watchdogs, city supervisors and at least one former San Francisco mayor are questioning whether Newsom uses the police escorts more for show than security.

As part of our investigation, we filed a Sunshine Ordinance request for the surveillance video from a Muni bus that sideswiped the mayor’s SUV three weeks ago. The answer? Staff somehow recorded over the video. Some coincidence. Muni did provide the hour after the accident to us. You can watch some clips here.

First, the driver talks over the radio with central dispatch: “Yeah. It, it was the Mayor's car.” Then, the driver pulls the bus over and has a conversation with a Muni inspector, standing on the curb:

Muni Inspector: “Nobody hurt, right?”
Bus Driver: “No, nobody hurt it was just—“ (gestures with hand).
Muni Inspector: “Okay.”
Bus Driver: “That's the bad part. Yeah I was just, you know I wasn't—“
Muni Inspector: “Yeah, I heard that I said, ‘Uh-oh.’”
Bus Driver: “I know I was like this, when he came out I'm like psshh, (other driver laughs) but you know, things happen. It wasn't like I, I was going fast. I was doing my job (unintelligible) it's just, they was too far from the curb and you know?”

Muni released a report on the accident that says the mayor’s driver, Officer Marc Chan, was inside the Tahoe at the time of the crash – that he had parked twenty inches from the curb. The bus driver, Ramon Garner, “stated that he was going outbound on Mission at 25th, took a partial left lane to avoid parked car away from the curb, cleared front end but rear end clipped driver side mirror.”

Today’s I-Team report was based in large part on public records, and it’s been a battle. The SFPD redacted large portions of the documents they did provide – even the hotel where the police escort stayed, during the mayor’s wedding. We’ll be filing an appeal with the City Attorney’s Office, and will let you know how it turns out.

Investigating Fibromyalgia "Cure"

When we heard that South Lake Tahoe chiropractor Paul Whitcomb was claiming to have discovered the cause of fibromyalgia, a chronic pain syndrome, and was charging patients thousands of dollars for his cure, we wanted a second opinion. So, we called several local experts to find out the facts about this mysterious condition. They did not comment directly on Whitcomb's techniques.

"Absolutely, there is no cure for fibromyalgia," says Dr. Sean Mackey.

Dr. Mackey heads the Stanford University neuroscience and pain laboratory, where he's doing a clinical trial of a drug to treat fibromyalgia. So far, he says, medical researchers have not been able to pinpoint the root cause of the syndrome.

"To date, we have not been able to identify a single, solitary, consistent cause of fibromyalgia."

But when we interviewed Whitcomb at his clinic in South Lake Tahoe last week, he told us he'd figured out the secret while treating two car crash victims in 2001. "I figured out a long time ago what was causing it and how to treat it," he told us.

Whitcomb claims the problem is that the top vertebrae of the spine has been knocked out of alignment with the skull, usually in some kind of accident.

Dr. Paul Davidson disagrees with that theory. He's a rheumatologist who specializes in treating patients with fibromyalgia at the Kentfield Rehabilitation Hospital. And in 1989, he wrote "Chronic Muscle Pain Syndrome", which he says was the first book to explain fibromyalgia to the general public.

"Many people have looked at the spine, they've done MRIs, they've done PET scans, just about every test involving the spinal column, and that does not seem to be the problem," says Dr. Davidson.

Dr. Davidson says no single problem could possibly explain all the many symptoms associated with fibromyalgia, such as anxiety, depression, headaches, chronic muscle pain and fatigue. He uses a multi-pronged approach to treat his patients, including prescription drugs, physical therapy and psychological counseling.

"I've always been skeptical about one single procedure causing tremendous relief, and that's why I came up with the multi-disciplinary therapy."

Then there's the "Whitcomb Method", which consists of a neck manipulation three times a day, five days a week, for at least two months. Several former patients told us that all they got out of Whitcomb's treatment was a stiff neck and an expensive bill.

"My neck started getting sorer and sorer from all that twisting and bending 3 times a day," Henry Badal wrote in an email. "If [Whitcomb] could not hear or get a crack he would do the motion again more aggressively and more aggressively. I had horrible pains in my neck and could not sleep. He kept insisting that we should hang in there, relief will come."

Darden Burns from the Seattle area told us she had the same problem. "I had a sore neck for a year after I was there, and that happened to a lot of people."

We came across some true believers as well. The patients that Whitcomb arranged for us to meet when we visited his clinic last week all seemed convinced his treatment works.

We even tracked down Joan Brownyard of Covina, California -- the woman featured in a video testimonial posted prominently on Whitcomb's Web site under the headline "The Miracle of Joan". The video shows Brownyard undergoing a remarkable transformation, from being barely able to speak and in what appears to be severe pain, to smiling into the camera and talking normally after just six days of treatment.

Brownyard swears by the "Whitcomb Method". She says his treatment has helped get her off all her pain medication. "He changed my life," she says. "I haven't felt so good in the last 16 years since my car accident."

But other patients say any effects the treatment might have are more psychological than medical.

“It's sort of cathartic because you're you know you're interacting with people undergoing a similar experience and you sort of tend to feel better just from that,” Walter Schulte says. “Then, as time wears on, you begin to realize that this isn't really doing anything except maybe making your problem worse.”

Here's the complaint against Whitcomb from the California Board of Chiropractic Examiners and the Attorney General’s office, so you can take a look at the full charges yourself.

SFPD Detective Tasered

Tonight’s investigation centers on an audio recording of a San Francisco Police detective being tasered in her own home by Antioch Police. Lynn Richardson tells the I-Team it all started when she tried to evict a tenant who was sharing her house. On June 7th, 2007, the tenant had her daughter call Antioch Police, claiming some of Richardson’s friends were threatening the tenant and her daughter.

Antioch Police Officer Santiago Martinez was one of four officers who responded to the scene; he’s also the one who tased Richardson. There are some serious discrepancies in the report Martinez filed, compared to what’s on the audio recording.

Martinez wrote the tenant “was petrified because she knew there were guns in the house since Richardson is a police officer.” On the audio, Martinez asks the tenant and her daughter, “So, are you guys scared of them or what?” The daughter answers, “No.” The tenant adds, “But we can’t sleep.” The daughter: “We don’t know what they’re liable todo because we’re gonna sleep and they come into our room.” Later, Martinez asks the tenant, “Do you know if they have any kind of weapons or guns in the house?” The tenant calmly answers, “No.” Martinez says, “Possibly.” The tenant answers, “Yes.”

Martinez also writes that one of Richardson’s friends “pushed (the tenant) into the bedroom wall and pinned her against the wall by placing her forearm along (the tenant’s) throat.” That description does not appear on the audio recording of Martinez' interview with the tenant. One defense lawyer writes the audio recording provides “a most disturbing account of officer fabricating and bolstering the facts of the incident to rise to a level of leading the witness, putting words into her mouth, and persuasion in effectuating the statements of the victims.”

All this is fodder for the lawsuit Richardson’s filed against the City of Antioch and Antioch Police. The criminal charges against her and her friends were dropped, after a judge ruled the police entry into the home was “unlawful”.