Dear
Mayor Autry;
I have read with great interest the news stories concerning the arrest of Maribel Cuevas. According to this news story, this 11 year old girl threw a rock at one of a group of boys who where pelting her with water balloons. Her rock hit the boy and caused him to receive stitches in his forehead.
As a result, your police officers arrested her, handcuffed her, jailed her for 5 days, placed her under 30 days house arrest, and your prosecuters are now charging her with Felony Assult. I have seen no mention of what charges the boys who started the fight, by throwing water balloons, will be receiving.
And it is certainly a good thing you sent in three squad cars with police helicopter backup when your officers arrested her. Can't ever be too careful with rock-throwing 11 year-old girls.
According to the "
Area Connect" website page for Fresno, in 2002 your city recorded the following crime statistics (per 100,000 persons normalized):
Per 100,00 People In Fresno Nationwide
Fresno Murders 9.47 5.6
Fresno Forcible Rapes 35.64 33.0
Fresno Robberies 333.59 145.9
Fresno Aggravated Assaults 473.88 310.1
Fresno Burglaries 1009.56 746.2
Fresno Larceny/Thefts 4167.69 2445.8
Fresno Motor Vehicle Thefts 1618.31 432.1
Fresno Arsons 159.46 N/A
I see 473.88 aggravated assults per 100,000 persons in Fresno as opposed to 310.1 nationwide, which I assume would be the crime charged against the 11 year old female criminal Maribel Cuevas? I am curious as to whether your police department and prosecutors office is so harsh on every other person accused of this crime. Are they so harsh on every accused murderer? Every accusted rapist?
Would this show of force against Maribel Cuevas, whose parents are poor and cannot speak much english, explain why your city has higher crime stats that the nation overall?
Seems to me your city os a pretty dangerous place to be living - for non-english speaking people. Be sure to prosecute this 11 year old girl to the fullest extent possible. I'm sure this will make your city a much safer place to live.
Signed,
**************
Contact Form for Mayor Alan Autry, Fresno Mayor
http://www.fresno.gov/city_officials/mayor/contact.asp
Sign-On San Diego Article
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/state/20050720-0211-ca-girlcharged.html
BBC Wire Article
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/4689459.stm
Daily Breeze (attempts to defend the police. See how many holes you can find in the police defense of this incident)
http://www.dailybreeze.com/news/regstate/articles/1713372.html