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Last week, a 19-year-old from Menlo Park pleaded no contest to charges related to a February robbery of a senior citizen at a bus stop.
On Feb. 28, Lorenzo Kenthwan Spears allegedly drove a stolen 2017 Ford Explorer up to a 72-year-old woman sitting on a bench at a bus stop in Broadmoor, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office.
An unnamed juvenile accomplice then jumped out of the vehicle, grabbed the woman’s purse and fled, according to prosecutors.
The woman chased the accomplice and grabbed the purse strap, but the juvenile got back into the car and Spears accelerated away, knocking the woman to the ground and leaving her cut and bruised.
In fleeing the scene, Spears took a turn too fast and collided with another car, injuring the driver of that car, according to prosecutors.
Spears, the juvenile accomplice and another person jumped out of the car and took off running.
Daly City and Broadmoor police officers set up a perimeter and caught Spears and the juvenile accomplice.
Spears pleaded no contest on the condition that he not serve time in state prison and no more than one year in the county jail. He has 208 days’ credit for time served, and will be placed on three years’ supervised probation afterward. His next court date is July 10 to receive the restitution order. He remains in custody on $50,000 bail, according to prosecutors.
He hurt the senion citizen when taking the purse, he then injured another driver when trying to get away. He obviously has no care for anyone else. He should go to state prison for at least 3 years. Why are they letting him off so easy? This is just encouraging others to commit the same or worse crimes knowing that the punishment is not that bad.
Overly lenient plea deal.
I wonder whether we can move from punishment to reform? I believe it’s possible to change a person’s attitude if (s)he can be helped to step into the shoes of the victim. It seems to me that punishment doesn’t change the heart, only he head. As some have pointed out, prison just makes smarter criminals. The change can be done within the penal system. What can be done to take this young man who seemingly has no concern for others and help him to become a productive citizen? Is that being soft on crime or will it eventually make our cities and towns safer? What is our goal? Revenge? Help? Public safety? I suspect I’ll get some major pushback (respectfully presented I hope), but this is part of the BLM movement (not that all criminals are of color) but the majority of those imprisoned are of color. As we learn more about the lives of young men, we need to understand where they came from and how can we help them? And for those who espouse the “toss them in jail” philosophy, I would remind them that it’s really costly to keep someone in jail. It helps our society to transform to a productive (tax paying) citizen. What are our goals?
It’s a travesty that our country does not provide free healthcare and free education through college to its citizens. It shouldn’t bankrupt families when a family member becomes seriously ill. Good health and free college benefits us all. This is what most good countries do for their citizens.