When Chief Hurtt said this the other day:
“Overall in the city of Houston, you’re pretty safe,” says Hurtt. “If you’re not involved in specific types of behavior, not out on the streets at particular times of night and particular areas of the city, you have a pretty good chance of not becoming a victim of violent crime in the city of Houston.”
…he had no way of knowing how sadly prophetic his words would be:
A young girl is dead after two men who carjacked her parents ran over her, officials told KPRC Local 2.
Officials said the family stopped at a car wash in the 8300 block of Jensen Drive near Sadler Street at about 10:50 p.m. Tuesday to use a telephone.
“While the father was out using the pay phone, two black males approached him and demanded money from the father and the mother,” Sgt. C.W. Howard said. “They were unable to produce any money, so the suspects then decided to take their vehicle.”
The men pulled the four children, between the ages of 2 and 6, out of the vehicle quickly.
“They brutally pulled these kids and threw them out onto the pavement of the car wash,” Sgt. David Crain said.
Investigators said Stephanie Garcia was in front of the vehicle when the men took off.
Unfortunately for the Garcia family, they were unable to follow the chief’s safety recommendations to avoid being victims of a violent crime:
The victim’s uncle said the family doesn’t have a phone at home, and little Stephanie Garcia’s father wanted to check on his mother, who is in a Houston hospital. The family lives near the car wash.
[snip]
“They told me my little sister was dead,” 5-year-old Jennifer Garcia told 11 News. She believes her baby sister is now with the angels.
What a heartbreaking story.
We’ve said it before and Bill F reiterated it again the other day: the most important priority of city government must be public safety. Not wi-fi, or $10,000 parking meters, or African-American museums, or pretty downtown parks. Public safety, meaning police and fire.
Mayor White has not made public safety his top priority, unless it involves pollution, Chief Hurtt is only interested in the latest technological gadgets (i.e. red light cameras, surveillance cameras and taser cams), and the majority of city councilmembers don’t have the you-know-whats to stand up to either of them.
In further depressing public safety news, KHOU-11 reports that thousands of violent parolees are unaccounted for in Harris County.
Lock your doors and sleep tight.
