The RB Marine robbery story includes no suspect descriptions. Why?
I find it hard to believe that the victim could describe their baggy pants, and remember exactly what was said, but could not at least identify the race of his attackers.
Could it be that the Daily Breeze is putting political correctness ahead of the need to report important details that could help solve this crime?
John S. Campbell
Rolling Hills Estates
A. Thanks for writing. Plenty of people regularly ask about this.
We publish descriptions when they are more specific, including race, age, height, weight, eye color, hair color, and other aspects, including clothing, tattoos, jewelry or what car they were driving. To say the suspect was a "20-year-old white man, or 25-year-old black man in a red shirt" isn't specific enough.
In this particular case, police told me the victim was unable to see much beyond age, race and their baggy pants before he was clobbered on the head.
The description -- young men in baggy pants -- identifies a large section of the Southern California population.
Some might consider it politically correct to leave race out of the story, but the race makes up a huge Southern California population. There's no reason to indict an entire group of people for the actions of some.
Feel free to send your responses and I will post them below.
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About the Blogger
Larry Altman has covered crime in the South Bay since 1990. He's seen it all - the missing model who turned up dead in the desert, the wives found dead in trunks, the high-school coaches who get a little too close to their players. He drives his young colleagues nuts with his "I remember when" stories. He welcomes your tips and observations about the present, and you can mix in a little Lakers basketball talk if you like.
E-mail Larry at larry.altman@dailybreeze.com.
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About the Blogger
Denise Nix knew as young as grade school, when she spent every summer working on the camp newspaper, that she wanted to be a journalist. Denise has spent most of the last 12 years of her career in the courtroom. She joined the Daily Breeze in 2001, where she tracks and reports on hundreds of cases at every level of the justice system. And she's never, ever, seen a judge use a gavel.
E-mail Denise at denise.nix@dailybreeze.com.
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I re-read your article. Nowhere in it do you state that the assailants were male or young. The victim was able to tell police the age, race, and sex of his attackers, but you withheld that information from your readers.
Lots of people wear baggy pants, but that didn't stop you from indicting all of them. Next time I take my children to the beach, I will be sure to steer clear of anyone with baggy pants and a skateboard.
This is PC-ism, plain and simple, and it jeopardizes the safety of the residents of our community.
I dare you to post the discription of the suspects.This ommision is pure pc bs. tell the truth already .Are you afraid to offend someone, well.... you offend everyone who isnt a criminal when you leave out important info.
Some how I don't think it would take much
imagination to guess their race or their
shall we say immigration status...Oh sorry
just a politicaly incorrect guess Eh Amigo!
I too, was very disturbed by the amount of PC the DB has exercised --it is BS but it appears to be the norm with most major media outlets.
The biggest issue for me as a reader and poster is that the DB arbitrairly censors and removes posts for no other reason than to be political correct. Political correctness is one of the reasons that this society is in the trouble that it is
Why is the story about the Marine attack no longer available on your site? It ran on the front page of today's paper?
An update should appear soon on both the blog and home page.
Found this via MIchelle Malkin. In Texas we carry firearms, legall, for the purpose of self-defense. Had he been visiting South Padre Island, he would have had no problem showing the police who his attackers were, for they would be with the coroner's office picking them up off the ground.
Long live the Marines!!