Manataka American Indian Council
Native
American Times
Nation's Largest Independent Indian News Source
How did Lakota
spiritual leader end up in hospital?
Was it a brutal beating or a violent
fall?
PHILADELPHIA MS
Sam Lewin 7/29/2003
A respected Lakota spiritual leader lies
in a hospital bed in Philadelphia, Mississippi trying to recover from
major head trauma. How he got there is a mystery, with wildly different
stories circulating.
Robert LaBatte, 52, is the Grand Chief of the Spiritual Elders of Mother
Earth, an organization made up of 30 indigenous people from the United
States and Canada. The Bear Butte, South Dakota resident also acts as a
coordinator for the Friends of Indigenous Elders, a non-profit group
based out of New Mexico.
Friends say LaBatte went to the Choctaw reservation in Philadelphia
earlier this month to visit with relatives and rest after participating
in the Gathering at Manataka.
Sometime during the evening of Sunday, July 13, LaBatte sustained major
injuries to his head and throat.
That’s about all anyone knows for sure.
LaBatte’s family and friends say he was at the home of Nathaniel
Tubby, a cousin of his brother-in-law, when three intoxicated men came
over and began to taunt him. They say LaBatte went to bed rather than
confront them. His niece says she received a call the next day from one
of Tubby’s sons, asking her to pick LaBatte up because he fell and hit
his head. LaBatte was bloody and badly injured when she arrived and
begged her to take him to the hospital. The other residents of the house
said they slept late and didn’t notice LaBatte was in pain.
Two weeks later, LaBatte remains at the Choctaw Health Center. Friends
say a piece of his skull pierced his brain, his left ear is damaged and
he must be fed through a tube. He still requires further surgery.
Robert York is the Choctaw Tribal Police detective assigned to the case.
He said he doesn’t yet know what happened.
“ We are trying to determine if it’s an assault or not. Either he
hit his head or it got hit. We are trying to find out,” York told the
Native American Times.
“ He sustained massive blunt trauma to the head. He doesn’t remember
anything.”
York says he is particularly angered, and the investigation hampered, by
a website purporting to offer information on the incident. The site
names people who were in the house at the time and accuses them of
possibly assaulting LaBatte. That frustrates York because he cannot
locate some of those people, and he has no way of contacting the
webmaster to determine how he got that information. York says another
person identified on the site as a possible assailant has been ruled
out. He says the site has other information about the investigation that
is false.
That hasn’t stopped friends of LaBatte from being convinced that he
was the victim of a violent assault. They wonder how LaBatte could
sustain such injuries during a fall, and they accuse police of dragging
their heels in the investigation.
Cynthia Walker, secretary-treasurer of Friends of Indigenous Elders,
believes LaBatte was an assault victim.
“ It was some of his relatives that beat him up and he was beaten very
badly and now he’s trying to recover,” Walker told the Native
American Times.
“ It shocked and surprised me. Robert is one of the most highly
spiritual people I know. For someone to want to hurt someone who is in
that position makes them very evil.”
Dear Indian Times and Mr. Lewin:
Excellent writing and reporting by Sam Lewin.
We are concerned about the following statement contained in the article above.
...York says he is particularly angered, and the investigation hampered, by a website purporting to offer information on the incident. The site names people who were in the house at the time and accuses them of possibly assaulting LaBatte. That frustrates York because he cannot locate some of those people, and he has no way of contacting the webmaster to determine how he got that information. York says another person identified on the site as a possible assailant has been ruled out. He says the site has other information about the investigation that is false..."
I am the webmaster mentioned above. There are several inconsistencies in the paragraph above:
1. Robert York, like Ken Butler, the former detective assigned to the case has received communications from us - thus, he does have a way of contacting us. We have spoke with him by telephone and he does have our number. Our address and telephone number are plastered all over the website. Therefore, this man lied.
2. We spoke with Detective Robert York by telephone. We asked him what in particular did he allege was "false" on our website. He said there was nothing he would ask us to change. Strange. Speaks with a forked tongue.
3. York can find everyone mentioned on our website as alleged perpetrators. He told us that he has interviewed everyone mentioned by name.
4. York knows we received the information first hand by interviewing the witnesses.
5. There is no reason for York to "rule out" any possible suspects at this juncture of the investigation. When asked by us, why he would consider ruling anyone out, he said, "...This man is meek as a kitten and would not hurt a fly.
His statement to us is a preconceived opinion. It does not consider the fact that the men were drunk and there may have been some pressure from others in the group to force one of its members to go along with the brutal beating.
Was Robert Woableza LaBatte assaulted or did he fall? There is no question about it when the full extent of his injuries are considered. Doctors at two hospitals concur that his type of injuries could not have been sustained in a fall, an auto accident or any other way except by beating. The Choctaw Police have the doctors' reports and hospital records. They have interviewed some of the witnesses. They do know the truth.
Regardless of these inconsistencies, we have faith that Detective York and the Choctaw Police Department will aggressively pursue the investigation and truth will prevail.
We have first-hand contact with Woableza, his family and friends on-site on a daily basis. They are telling us details about the assault and other related issues, however, fear of retribution has caused some of them to withhold information from the police.
Please feel free to contact us. Thank you.