Santiago Garcia-Diaz, a Baltimore resident, is desperate to save his son. It reminds me of something right out of The Wire.
He spoke to the local Fox station a few days ago but went national on Tuesday to bash soft-on-crime prosecutors.
Santiago’s 15-year-old son Bryce has a criminal history. He believes prison is the only way to get Brysce straightened out.
Santiago refused to pick him up from prison, but the prosecutors threatened to charge him with neglect for leaving his son in prison:
“I got the call from prince Frederick County and Calvert County telling me that they had him in custody and they told me what had happened and stuff and I said you know what let him stay there in custody and they told me you got 6 hours to get here and get him or we will be coming to get you for neglect and abandonment issues.”He’s a father who believes his son needs to be punished to be rescued.”I want my son to get some help I mean if it’s jail that what’s it’s gonna take then jail, what my son needs he needs some mental help.”
Santiago set up a GoFundMe account because of the financial toll it’s taken on the family.
The link to the campaign is no longer valid.
This morning on Fox, Santiago reiterated his pleas and worry about his child:
Santiago Garcia-Diaz joined “Fox & Friends First” Tuesday to discuss why he wants his son behind bars and his appeal to prosecutors, who now want to charge him with neglect, if he refuses to pick up his son from jail.”I’ve been begging for help for my child for two and a half years,” Garcia-Diaz told co-host Todd Piro. “I’ve had petitions signed by judges to have him to have him sent away for mental eval[uation]. I have no idea what else to do. Like, I’ve tried everything. I’m at the end of my wit… What else does a father do to save his child’s life?””He’s running with the wrong crowd,” he continued. “I live in a dangerous area… in Baltimore… What else should I do?”
This is insane. 18 of the 19 charges were dropped even though he allegedly ran over a police officer and crashed a stolen car.
Santiago sounds like an involved parent, but Bryce just won’t stop:
“The last time he disappeared for over a week, he came home, and we had to rush to the hospital, and they said that we wouldn’t have brought him in, he would have been dead,” Garcia-Diaz said.”My son was born with a chronic lung disease where he doesn’t get a full expulsion of his lungs, and he smoked weed all the time, he smoked cigarettes, and it had gotten so bad that he couldn’t breathe,” he continued.—“As of June 1st, they changed the laws for the juvenile justice system to where they can only be charged with certain crimes at certain times, and they got to go through so many steps before they can actually make a move to really do anything against the child now,” Garcia-Diaz said. “It’s ridiculous.”
We need more parents like this.
A WBFF report highlighted these chases in September: High speed chase involving teens sparks new concerns about juvenile crime.
It all came to light after a 16-mile chase in Baltimore ended with the arrest of three teens, a growing trend in juvenile crimes:
It’s part of what some see as a dangerous trend in Baltimore that involves more young people being accused of violent crimes.Friday’s high-speed chase came on the heels in recent weeks of a teen arrested for gunning down, killing a student in broad daylight outside of his high school and a 15-year-old who’s now been charged as an adult for the killing that left a 17-year-old dead in the Inner Harbor over Memorial Day Weekend.”A lot of stealing, violence, just a lot a lot of different things,” said Ivan Chestnut.
The police department said they “have charged ten people under 18 with murder so far this year and nearly a dozen kids have lost their lives on city streets.”
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