SF Chronicle: Cal football player, friend charged in robbery

By Henry Lee

A Cal football player and a former team member upset at reported racial slurs made by a member of the university's crew team sought revenge by robbing two residents of a dormitory, but targeted the wrong people, campus officials said Tuesday.   R.J. Garrett and Gary Doxy, both 21, were arrested and charged Monday in connection with last month's robbery of two Cal crew team members at the Clark Kerr Campus, a residence-hall complex southeast of UC Berkeley that is home to many student athletes.   The suspects, who are black, decided to commit the Sept. 30 robbery after hearing about racial slurs reportedly made by a white member of the Cal crew team at an off-campus party three days earlier, police said.

A black female student athlete who was at the party was offended by the comments, which someone else relayed to Garrett and Doxy, police said.  The robbery victims were outside the party and did not make the offensive comments, authorities said. The student who allegedly uttered the slurs has been suspended from the crew team and is facing separate student conduct charges by the university. He was not identified.

"The campus has made it clear ... that racial slurs are deplorable and unacceptable, and that is why we have mechanisms in place to deal with such incidents," Gibor Basri, vice chancellor for equity and inclusion, said in a statement. "Our office seeks to foster an inclusive and healthy campus climate, and will take further active steps to ensure that campus community members feel welcome and safe."  Garrett and Doxy allegedly robbed UC Berkeley students Jonathan McGraw Bentley and Steve Giahos, both 18, at about 12:50 a.m. Sept. 30 at Building 17 of the Clark Kerr complex. The suspects were armed with a weapon that turned out to be a BB gun, police said.  The suspects entered the residence through an open kitchen window. One man went into a bedroom, turned on the light and slammed the door shut before demanding a laptop computer at gunpoint, UC Berkeley said.

The same robber also demanded one victim's wallet. The second robber periodically opened the door and told his accomplice to hurry, police said.  The two men then fled on foot. The victims were not hurt. They did not respond to requests for comment.  Garrett and Doxy were charged Monday by Alameda County prosecutors with robbery and attempted robbery. Garrett was also charged with possessing an illegal, stolen sawed-off shotgun. It was found in his off-campus apartment, authorities said. Both men will also face student conduct charges.  Garrett posted $60,000 bail Monday and was released from custody. Doxy is being held at Santa Rita Jail in Dublin in lieu of $50,000 bail.

Late Tuesday, Garrett was dismissed from Cal's football team, said Dan Mogulof, a UC Berkeley spokesman. Garrett was a junior fullback who had come to Cal from Crenshaw High School in Los Angeles, where his father, Robert, is a longtime and well-respected coach. R.J. Garrett was a sixth-string fullback who, in three seasons, had never participated in an offensive play.  Doxy is a senior from Long Beach Poly High who was dismissed from the team over the summer for bad grades. He was widely believed to have been recruited to entice high school teammate DeSean Jackson to come to Cal.

Jackson starred with the team for three seasons before turning pro, and now plays for the Philadelphia Eagles. Doxy played in 14 games in three seasons with Cal and recorded two tackles.  In a separate incident in September 2005, Doxy was grazed in the wrist by a bullet in a street shooting just blocks from campus that left a woman dead. The victim, Meleia Willis-Starbuck, 19, was killed by a friend whom she had called for help during an argument with Cal football players.  Referring to the arrests, Cal coach Jeff Tedford said Tuesday, "Obviously, it's unfortunate. I have a lot of confidence in our team that it will stay focused on what it needs to get done. Their job is to pay attention to what's important for them, and right now, that is to prepare for the game."

Tedford said he has not witnessed racial tension on campus. "We have a lot of teams here in this environment, and it's never been better. The camaraderie among teams, men and women and cultures, I see everyone getting along great."  Cal athletic director Sandy Barbour said: "I know that the entire Cal athletics community shares my profound disappointment in the wake of these incidents. They are contrary to everything we stand for."

Referring to Garrett, Doxy and the crew team member who made the racially offensive remarks, Barbour said: "The disciplinary steps taken against the implicated student-athletes should be viewed as an initial step. It is now my responsibility to make sure that every member of our athletic program fully understands the extent to which these behaviors were, and will always be, completely unacceptable."