Posted on 03/19/2005 11:02:05 AM PST by freeholland
As the body of Jessica Lunsford was being excavated from its Florida hiding place, at the hands of a man who saw her, took her, and killed her, another horrifying crime was taking place in my own neighborhood in the Berkeley Hills.
A 75 year old woman and her husband were walking along Euclid Avenue, where it runs between the Rose Garden and Codornices Park. It is one of the most spectacularly beautiful urban scenes in the world, with panoramic views of San Francisco, the Bay, and its bridges on one side, and a hillside of architectural landmark houses and public spaces, including Bernard Maybek's classicist masterpiece Rose Walk and the modernist Greenwood Common.
The elderly couple were walking home from a continuing education class at the University of California. The North Gate to its campus stands at the foot of Euclid Avenue, less than a mile away. They moved aside to make room on the sidewalk to allow a pair of girls to walk by them. Suddenly, one of the girls
"grabbed Kate around the neck and slashed her throat with an 8-inch butcher knife all the way to a bone in what police say was an apparently random attack. Kate struggled briefly with her attacker, who released her. Then she reached up to her neck. "It was spurting blood," she said from a hospital bed Friday. "It was just astonishing."
Fortunately, the knife narrowly missed the important veins and arteries in the victim's neck, and she survived the brutal and senseless attack. The area usually has many people enjoying its parks and views, and witnesses were able to see the attackers drive off in a very expensive car, a BMW M-3 convertible. Unless the car was stolen, these were not underprivileged children. Police relied on tips and arrested a 16 year old Oakland girl. Presumably, the license plate led them to her, though details are not yet available.
Because of the Supreme Court's recent ruling, this human monster will never face the death penalty. In fact, I worry that the tender mercies of the juvenile justice system will have her back on the streets of my neighborhood before very long, full of whatever demons led her to nearly decapitate my nighbor.
What could have motivated such an attack on strangers literally passing by? Could it be race, the foremost cause of random hate in today's America? The Chronicle does not identify the attacker by race, which often indicates membership in a minority. Or could it be a wealthy and pampered child acting out, after a childhood where no boundaries were ever set? Because the suspect is a juvenile, we may never know. However, when attacks are so savage, and purely random, and when the suspect presents such an obvious danger to the citizenry, shouldn't we have a right to know the names and details of the suspects?
I hope the suspect will be tried as an adult. The crime merits it.
This is so horrible and unbelievable that it exceeds all urban legends.
The perpetrator should be locked up for life, whether adjudicated to be insane or not. This 16 year-old is a mad dog killer.
It's only by the grace of God that the victim survived.
The girl was from Oakland, with a BMW. I know there are some whites living in Oakland but let's be open and frank here, Oakland is primarily an African American community. A white person living in oakland is not likely to be able to afford a BMW (okay, MAYBE in oakland hills), as it is a poor to lower-middle income area. The type of car driven and the city that the girl lives in make this sound a lot like a crack ghetto, rite of passage, hate crime.
That's what I meant. And, that's our kind of "Gun Control".
Of course not, that would be an insult to vegetables everywhere.
From Alameda Times-Star:
http://www.insidebayarea.com/timesstar/localnews/ci_2613107
Police were not discussing a motive, but at least one city official and neighbors speculated the slashing was a gang initiation.
"We are hearing the only thing it could have been was an initiation," said City Councilmember Betty Olds, who represents the hills district.
If you have doubts, you might want to write to Thomas Lifson via: postmaster@americanthinker.com. He is a fine columnist and author with a "Grade A" reputation, so I take him at his word. If this story came from an author I'd never heard of, and from a less credible source than American Thinker, I wouldn't have posted it, but I can't see how a writer of the stature of Lifson would invent a story for the purpose of sensationalism.
Sigh. You conservatives just don't understand. There are no bad people, only people society has failed. Everyone is beautiful, in their own way. I'm OK, you're ok. Live and let live. If we just soent more money on schools, stuff like this wouldn't happen. I'll be the girl is a member of a repressed minority. The old lady probably didn't value the diversity (and is also probably White and homophobic). When one child is punished, we are all diminished. Spanking never solved anything and is simply child abuse. The old lady probably voted for Bush.
OK.
Amen, Brother!
I lived near that neighborhood for awhile and saw not just upscale white kids driving expensive cars,, but also downscale young blacks who were clearly spending their own drug profits. As a matter of fact, I was threatened by one young black fellow in a very expensive car when he almost ran me off a crosswalk.
And on another occasion, I was about to leave a shop when a team of jewelry and expensive clothes-bedecked teenage black girls came in and started behaving very threateningly toward the owner, a small Asian woman. One of the black girls had a very very long "coke" fingernail. I stayed around until they left, as I knew for sure that they'd attack the Asian woman if she were alone.
Oakland is right next door, so don't come to the conclusion that wastrel white girls committed this heinous crime. Though of course, that might be the case.
Bet you it is NOT treated as a hate crime.
Thanks. Just as I suspected.
And NO, it won't be considered a hate crime.
And like you, I wouldn't even give a passing thought to living in California.
Actually, it's quite possible. The perp (oops, "economically challenged victim of society" in Berkeleyspeak) probably yanked her victim's head back to get an easier shot at her throat. Tipping the head backward causes the major blood vessels in the neck (the carotids and the jugulars) to move back behind the muscles and tendons, giving them some protection. Now if the perp had pushed her head forward ...
Either we're talking about a 3rd year med student with a plan & fast hands, an extrememly lucky victim, or fiction. :-)
But "to the bone" is pretty deep!
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