Family of student killed in Fresno calls for justice. ‘As long as we can, as loud as we can’

The family of Rashad Al-Hakim Jr. held a rally outside the Fresno County Courthouse on Monday, to remember the 15-year-old Hoover High School Student and to call out what they say is injustice in the handling of his murder case.

Al-Hakim Jr. was struck and killed in a hit-and-run near the Fresno school in October.

It took until late December for prosecutors to bring charges against the driver, 39-year-old Lisa Ellen Spoors, who plead not guilty to murder, driving under the influence of a drug while causing injury and hit-and-run resulting in permanent injury or death.

Spoors was released from jail Thursday after a judge lowered the bail requirement in the case from $1.5 million to $150,000.

On Monday, more than two dozen people gathered at the courthouse carrying poster-sized photos of Al-Hakim and signs reading “Justice for Rahsad” and “Rise up for Rashad.”

Al-Hakim’s mother, Regina Bell, found it difficult to speak, but said that dealing with the loss of her son is the hardest thing she’s had to do in her life and that she doesn’t understand the decisions made by prosecutors and the judge in the case.

“It just doesn’t make sense to me.”

Jeremy Kitchen, the first vice president of the Fresno chapter of the NAACP and a relative helping lead the rally, said the case would certainly have been handled differently if Spoors were a Black man.

A toxicology report taken after the collision indicated Spoors had a combination of illicit and prescription substances in their system. This comes following a prior conviction for driving under the influence in 2008. In that case, Spoors was advised that driving under the influence was dangerous to human life and that a person could be charged with murder if they did so and someone was killed as a result.

Spoors attorney, Marc Kapetan, said his client had been improperly charged in arguing for the bail reduction last week. Evidence given to him shows Spoors was not under the influence and could not have stopped in time to avoid hitting Al-Hakim Jr., he said.

Al-Hakim’s father, Rashad Al-Hakim Sr., said that everything in life has changed since his son’s death and “no one is taking it well,” not his mother, his younger brother or two sisters, all of whom surrounded him at the rally.

“And the justice system is not helping us with our grieving process, either.”

The police weren’t doing any favors by arresting Spoors, Kitchen said.

They were doing their job.

”And they did their job way too late,” he said.

“Rashad was a victim, and he should be treated like a victim. His family should be treated like the family of a victim.”

The family called for the rally to make sure that Al-Hakim’s memory didn’t get lost in the injustice they see happening and to urge the community to share his name and story, Kitchen said.

“As long as we can, as loud as we can.”

Spoors was a graduate teaching assistant at Fresno State in the Department of Art and Design, where Spoors had been working since the fall of 2021.

According to the university, Spoors was placed on investigatory leave Oct. 21. Spoors was assigned non-instructional duties for the remainder of the semester, in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement. Their employment contract ended in December and was not renewed, the university said.

Spoors’ next hearing is Feb. 7.

This story was originally published January 23, 2023 at 2:26 PM.