Los Angelesâ controversial district attorney is under fire again after a teen in a horrifying hit-and-run caught on video was given a light diversionary sentence.
According to Fox News, a California teen convicted of plowing his vehicle into a mom and her 8-month-old boy will only spend five months in a diversionary program. Thatâs all courtesy of Los Angeles District Attorney George GascĂłn, whoâs already faced one recall for his soft-on-Crime ways.
Most notably, GascĂłnâs office refused to try a 26-year-old transgender child molester as an adult for an assault he committed just weeks before he turned 18.
(GascĂłn isnât the only progressive DA plunging his city into ruin because of the Progressive policies heâs pushed. Here at The Western Journal, weâve chronicled how leftist approaches to law enforcement have caused numerous big cities to become Crime-ridden cesspools. Weâll continue to bring America the truth â and you can help us by subscribing.)
In the Aug. 6, 2021, hit-and-run in Venice, California, a 16-year-old ran into a mother â who asked to only be identified as âRachelâ â and her infant.
The driver was speeding the wrong way down a back street that didnât have any sidewalks.
đş Embedded media â coming soon
Police sources said the hit-and-run driver claimed the victim popped out of nowhere. He tried to flee the scene, but was stopped by a pickup driver who rammed his car.
âI thought those were the last moments of our lives; we were dead,â Rachel said in her victim statement. âThat feeling, along with the memory of a car accelerating directly into us, will haunt me forever.â
âAs the car approached me and my child, I stopped walking and moved the stroller and myself up against a building on the right side of the road to ensure that we gave the reckless driver plenty of room to pass,â the statement continued.
âAs the car got dangerously close to us, turned the wheels in our direction and accelerated as he aimed to kill us.â
She said she could see the whites of the hit-and-run driverâs eyes.
While the 16-year-old was initially charged with a felony for driving while intoxicated. He also could have faced âmore serious charges if GascĂłnâs prosecutors had the leeway to push for them,â Fox News reported.
They didnât.
âFortunately, the baby was uninjured, and the mother received a laceration to her elbow,â GascĂłnâs office told Fox News.
âThe Sheriffâs Department agreed with the felony charges that were filed. At arraignment, the minor admitted two felony counts of assault by means of force likely to produce great bodily injury and one felony count of hit-and-run. The Probation Department recommended, and the court sentenced the minor to a youth camp for five to seven months, an appropriate resolution.â
The diversionary âjuvenile probation campâ program is meant to ârehabilitate young people,â GascĂłnâs office said, and is more lenient than juvenile detention.
âIn this case, this teen will be held accountable for his actions and receive the needed services to foster positive development to keep him from committing future offenses,â they added.
As for the mother, she said she lived in fear before he was taken into custody seven months after the collision due to a bench warrant because he skipped court.
After his sentence is done, she added, sheâll continue to fear the teen.
âI was also told that his record would be wiped clean when he turns 18,â the statement.
âHow on earth can that be? He tried to murder two innocent pedestrians. Murder. And we have video evidence. My child would be dead if I hadnât been there to protect him.â
The statement laid the blame for this at the feet of GascĂłn for not pursuing Justice.
âGeorge GascĂłn doesnât value my life or the life of my child, or any other victim out there and would rather reward the monsters like by demonstrating to them that their actions have no consequences,â her victim statement said.
âDA GascĂłn is telling him and every other thug in LA County that it doesnât matter if you try to murder people. Why are GascĂłnâs policies prioritizing the livelihood of rotten monsters when my child, my baby, who is incapable of protecting himself, is left to fend for himself, and is essentially being told his life doesnât matter?â
GascĂłn is also facing criticism for leniency in more serious cases â including preventing prosecutors from seeking enhancements that can stiffen penalties, among other things, and not sentencing juvenile offenders as adults.
The most notable case of GascĂłnâs leniency involves Hannah Tubbs, formerly known as James Edward Tubbs. The transgender male received only two years in a juvenile facility for a 2014 child molestation case. He was later charged with murder in a 2019 case.
âI have never been more surprised or disappointed, and, in fact, I have never felt so victimized as I have by the system and current policies of LAâs DA, George GascĂłn,â Rachel wrote. âMy heart breaks when I think about all of the other victims out there, less fortunate than me, whose murderers are getting lenient sentences and being released from prison before their sentences are complete.â
GascĂłn, a former San Francisco DA who became Los Angelesâ district attorney in 2020, is facing his second recall effort. Organizers only need 67,000 more signatures by July 6 to force a recall vote. Letâs hope this gets a lot more people to sign on.
This article appeared originally on The Western Journal.
