It was telling advice. According to Meyson, while he was writing his statement on Friday, Washingon kept saying he'd caused the incident. Meyson also says one of the varsity coaches came in and confronted the brothers, saying they were "an embarrassment to the team," and then turned to him and said, "I don't know how they do things at Pius, but here we support the team."
No one contacted Alson about what was going on with his son at school Friday — a not uncommon practice in the Houston Independent School District — so it wasn't until Meyson got home that night and handed his father the ticket that Alson learned what had happened.
On Tuesday morning, Alson met with Assistant Principal Frank A. Salinas and Washington, who said "that he heard from several people at the game that Meyson had been on the sidelines, heckling the players during the entire game." Alson said that couldn't be true because his son was sitting up in the stands with him during the entire game until the last five to ten minutes. Washington hadn't actually witnessed the fight — neither did Alson — but said he was sure Meyson had thrown some punches back. Meyson denies this.
"Officer Washington also said he still had the citation he issued to Meyson and could decide not to turn it in," Alson says. Alson urged Salinas and Washington to speak with more people, including those who said Meyson had done nothing, and left feeling somewhat encouraged. Later that day, though, a school employee, calling on behalf of Salinas, delivered the suspension news to Alson.
Returning the next morning to school, Alson says Salinas told him, "Meyson was more involved than he first thought," and that's why he'd added the suspension. (Two requests by the Houston Press for comment on the matter by HISD officials, placed through the school district's press office, were declined. The Press was also unable to reach the brothers involved in the incident.)
When Meyson was able to return to school on September 12, things continued on a downward course, he says. A coach kept after him. He says one teacher made reference to the September 1 incident and refused to accept him in her class. For the most part, he says, he got along fine with the brothers. The parents of the kid who'd told him to get off the field apologized that he'd in any way gotten Meyson in trouble, Alson says.
Meyson was told by one teacher that his records showed three days of unexcused absence. After explaining he'd been suspended, he was told to go to the office and straighten things out. When he asked the teacher three days after that to see if his record had been corrected, it had. Then, on September 17, Alson received a warning notice in the mail from Waltrip stating that "Meyson Garcia has violated the Compulsory School Attendance Law." More things to sort out.
About this time, Alson says, St. Pius called asking if the Garcias would reconsider because the school would really like Meyson back. Alson jumped at the chance, but once he brought up the citation, St. Pius said no way — they would not admit Meyson until the matter was cleared up. Alson made several appeals; none worked. His son was trapped.
Alson decided to yank his son from the football team, not wanting to chance anything else happening.
Meyson would go to school, do his work, keep his head down and come home.
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Despite all of Alson's visits to Waltrip and attempts to stop the citation being filed in court, none of his attempted interventions worked. On October 12, Meyson and the two brothers had their court date in the night juvenile court run by Justice David Fraga.
The brothers, accompanied by their dad, were ready to plead guilty, but Fraga called them up to talk along with Meyson and refused to accept anyone's plea. He reset all three cases for November 8, saying he wanted more time to look into the matter. This was an incredibly hopeful sign to the Garcias; they took it to mean the judge didn't think they belonged in court, either.
The hope was dashed a few weeks later when they returned. The judge had had an apparent change of heart, perhaps bolstered by the outpouring of Waltrip personnel including Washington, Frodine and teacher Veronica Leonard, who the Garcias learned was to be the star witness against Meyson.
