Melting Point

According to charging documents and witness testimony at a preliminary hearing in the Schuylkill County courthouse, events unfolded like this:

After supper, Ramirez went out without telling Dillman where. He spent some time with friends -- a young married couple and Dillman's 15-year-old half sister.

Around 11:30 p.m., the couple gave Ramirez and the girl a ride to the Vine Street Park, a patch overlooking the high school and across from the football stadium. Ramirez had been drinking.

A few hours earlier, several current or former members of the football team met in the nearby woods where one of them had stashed a box of 12 40-ounce bottles of Mickey's malt liquor. Several drank, and one said he polished off two bottles.

They visited the Polish American Fire Co. block party, and then a group of six started walking toward the park. They saw the girl, whom some recognized from school, before they saw Ramirez.

"Isn't it a little late for you to be out?" called out Brian Scully, a running back going into his senior year.

Ramirez came into view and shouted something in Spanish. The words sounded unfriendly to Ben Lawson, 17, a defensive back, who testified against his teammates. But Lawson didn't know for sure what Ramirez said because he does not understand Spanish.

Then Scully hollered: "This is Shenandoah!" "This is America!" "Go back to Mexico!"

Brandon Piekarsky, 16, a wide receiver and honors student, started exchanging punches with Ramirez. Then Derrick Donchak, 18, the quarterback who graduated last spring, joined in.

Ramirez fell and Donchak landed on top of him. A group of three players stood around Ramirez, kicking him.

Ramirez got to his feet. There was a confusing "rumble" with punches flying, Lawson testified. The end came when Ramirez had his attention on Donchak, when Colin Walsh, 17, a linebacker and straight-A student, landed a surprise blow to his face. Ramirez went down hard, his head thumping on the pavement. While he was down, Piekarsky kicked him near the left temple.

Ramirez, unconscious, started foaming at the mouth and "bouncing off the road" with violent convulsions, testified Eileen Burke, a retired Philadelphia police officer who had come outside her house at the sound of the commotion.