By Ralph Isenberg
This image was also taken during the super rally (Dallas, April 9, 2006). The image is supposed to be out of focus. Just like our current situation. To so many, the dream of being an American is clear. The land of “red, white and blue” is within reach but blurred by a policy gone wrong.
By Nick Braune
Mid-Valley Town Crier
by permission
From the Brownsville Herald: “Two
Edinburg teens killed in high speed police chase.” A third teen from Brownsville also died as a result of the April 6 incident. I have been impelled to comment on this tragic incident.
I am not researching it in particular, looking for background information,
calling the family or the police for follow-up, etc. I intend to make no judgment
on the accident either. I am surely not criticizing the police force here,
having clipped only one newspaper column on the incident. I simply will suggest
to my readers at the end of the column that we greatly curtail police automobile
pursuits. Maybe we need a Valley-wide policy discussion.
According to the Herald article, there were four teens in a car near the Burlington
Coat Factory: Francisco, 19, the driver, and three passengers: Joseph, 18;
Cindy, 16; and Evelyn, 16. The store lot is a “known hang out for teens who
like to engage in racing and car exhibitions.” The article barebones: revving
motor…approached by police…taking off…ignoring police signals to stop…careening
toward freeway…police following…kids clocked at 100 mph…beer cans thrown out
of window…concrete barrier…only Evelyn (in critical condition) left living.
Not intending a researched feature on this subject — although one of my ethics students may do a paper on it — I spent ten minutes Googling for Valley headlines. Here’s a sample.
I am not implying that my list of articles above is representative. Because
the Valley is large, with ever so many police agencies and a tendency to overpolice,
there must have been more police chases. But of the nine chases mentioned above,
notice that five left fatalities and two others left injuries to officers.
It’s not statistically indicative, but it keeps me wondering.
Some real statistical studies have been done. The Introduction to Policing
textbook (Dempsey and Forst) I am presently examining quotes a Miami/Dade County
study of 952 pursuits in their Metro area: 38% (361) ending in accidents. 17%
(161) resulting in injuries. A Minnesota study showed 24% ended in injuries.
Chases may not be worth the losses in enforcement terms either: a good number
of those fleeing get away anyway. Consider the Valley. There are a lot of
people in the Rio Grande Valley and chases here are risky. Some pursuits involve
more than one police force, and different areas have different pursuit rules,
compounding the confusion.
The offender’s car is made of metal — and metal moving fast is hazardous — and if a police car chases the offender, there will be double the amount of hazardous metal in motion.
Not only can fleeing offenders become disoriented, but a dangerous road rage
can develop in police. Adrenaline really flows and “noble cause” emotion
can flow through officers, clouding their judgment. That is why some police
departments suggest that an officer after a chase not be the arresting officer.
Eemember that famous Rodney King case where the police beat and beat and beat
him. Had he hit an officer? No. He simply had run away. That’s what triggered
the rage.
Some cities nationally are drastically restricting pursuits, unless perhaps
the person fleeing has waved a gun, etc. Usually the officer already has the
license number, and police can pick up the offender later. Studies show some
people who flee are simply afraid of police and have committed minor infractions.
Also, one study showed the obvious…when police stop pursuing, the fleeing motorist
stops driving his metal so fast. And we surely don’t want any more teens, guilty
of illegally drinking, driving fast and feeling chased by police.
Phoenix, AZ
April 19, 2008
A national coalition of over 50 local, state and national organizations are participating in walk from Tucson to Phoenix beginning May 2 to call for an end to racially fomented hate crimes. The ten-day peaceful walk will end with a rally in downtown Phoenix on Mother’s Day, May 11, honoring mothers for teaching children to treat all human beings with equal dignity.
“We walk in support of Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and Arizona Governor Janet Napolitano and join them in seeking the indictment and prosecution of any who willfully abuse the constitutional rights of citizens,” states organizer Jay Johnson-Castro. “American values and the future of our country are at stake when people live in fear and are terrorized.”
Among the more than 50 organizations endorsing the event are:
LULAC National; Cesar Chavez March for Justice; National Indian Treaty Council;
Border Angels; Freedom Ambassadors; National Network for Immigration and Refugee Rights; Veterans for Peace; Derechos Humanos; Humane Borders; Gente Unida;
American Indian Movement; International Indian Treaty Council; Texas Indigenous Council; Border Ambassadors; Border Network for Human Rights; Southwest Workers Union; No Mas Muertes; LUPE; Somos America, the 42 member Phoenix coalition;
IUE-CWA/AFL-CIO; Labor Council for Latin American Advancement AFL-CIO;
Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law; Dallas Peace Center and MADRES.
Groups as well as individuals are invited to participate in the walk for an hour, a mile, a day or whatever circumstances allow. The walk will begin immediately after a 10 a.m. rally on Friday, May 2 in downtown Tucson at the Plaza on South 6th Avenue, between 12th and 13th Streets.
For further information contact:
Rick Romero Citizens Walk, Coordinator (602) 515-9844
Annette Sexton-Ruiz Citizens Walk, Assistant Coordinator (602) 505-4147
Email from Dr. Francisco Javier Iribarren:
I met Jay some time ago. Actually I read about him and I contacted him. To make a long story short, he is the reason why I became involved in denouncing and exposing for-profit concentration camps for immigrants on US soil.
His commitment to the helpless and forgotten, his unbridled enthusiasm and his earnestness bonded me to him, and I have called him my brother ever since. He has walked hundreds of miles, and traveled thousands, all in an effort to denounce the for-profit concentration camps. Jay has inspired others to get involved, and he is a good man.
I walked with him once; I joined him near Haskell some months ago, and I saw first hand the horror of for-profit incarceration of innocents: the prison at Haskell is a private human warehouse where a private corporation is receiving government funds to hold human beings locked away. I also traveled to meet him and others to the border in San Diego to denounce the building of the wall.
Jay continues to work on behalf of these innocents, and denouncing the government-corporate partnership fueling the criminalization of immigrants. Jay has spent, and continues to do so, from his own money going to different places where immigrants are being held for-profit: he spends his own money and gives of his own time during his walks of denunciation against the border wall and the concentration camps on Texas soil.
Jay is about to lose his bed-and-breakfast because he is behind on several payments. Jay needs our help now, and I humbly request that those of us able to help him out, to do something. If you can help, below you have a couple of different routes through which you can do it.
Sincerely,
Dr. Francisco Javier Iribarren
You may make your donation one of two ways
(1) To donate through PayPal, please go to the PayPal “Send Money” page
and make you payment to jayjsr@stx.rr.com:
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=p/ema/index-outside
(2) To donate by Check through the Mail:
Please make your check payable to: Jay J. Johnson or Jay Johnson
Then mail check to: 123 Hudson Drive, Del Rio, TX 78840
If you wish to receive a mailed receipt, please include the following information:
Proof of payment will be furnished by email _____ or Fax ______ (choose one, please)
Email address _____________________ Fax # ( )___________________
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