Guilty verdict feels just to some following Rousso case
BY KAREN BERKOWITZ kberkowitz@pioneerlocal.com | @KarenABerkowitz May 30, 2014 11:20AM
Jaclyn's parents, Modesta Sacramento Jimenez and Tomas Santos de Jesus, attend her funeral at St. James Church in Highwood on Sept. 11, 2012. | File photo .
Related Stories
Updated: May 31, 2014 2:15AM
As news broke Thursday of a guilty verdict in Carly Rousso’s aggravated DUI case, shoppers and pedestrians near the crash scene in Highland Park called it the right price the 19-year-old should pay for taking the life of a 5-year-old.
A Lake County Circuit Court judge found Rousso guilty on four counts of aggravated driving under the influence in the 2012 crash that occurred after she huffed a computer dust cleaner. Rousso pleaded guilty earlier in the week to a lesser charge of reckless homicide.
“I would want justice for my daughter, because it is a big loss,” said Maria Bahena, a Gurnee mother of four.
Rousso was driving her father’s Lexus Coupe eastbound on the 700 block of Central Avenue on Labor Day, 2012, when the vehicle careened across several lanes of traffic and onto the sidewalk, striking Jaclyn Santos Sacramento, 5, her mother, Modesta Sacramento Jiminez, and two brothers. Jaclyn, who had just started kindergarten at Indian Trail School in Highland Park, died of multiple injuries.
When days passed before charges were placed against the teenage driver, anger mounted in the Latino community.
Outraged citizens and activists speculated on websites, blogs and social media outlets that authorities were protecting a well-connected driver by withholding her name.
Hundreds of marchers made a pilgrimage from the Highwood train station to the spot on the 700 block of Central Avenue where the crash took place, calling for justice for the Santos Sacramento family.
Bahena said she still perceives racial disparity in the way Rousso’s case has been handled. She said she suspects a Hispanic motorist who struck and killed a non-Hispanic child with well-connected parents would not have received the same treatment.
“I see racism in it,” said Bahena, when asked her thoughts as she was leaving Sunset Foods, where she works. “I was disappointed about how they treated this case,” she said, noting that the victims were Hispanic.
Bahena said she’ll reserve final judgment, however, until Rousso’s sentence is known. Rousso faces a maximum of 14 years in prison at a sentencing hearing in July.
“Let’s see how it works,” Bahena said. “They have to treat people with respect. We are all the same. If you have money or don’t have money, we are all equal.”
Highland Park resident Noel Kuilet admitted he wasn’t intimately familiar with the case but thought Rousso should be penalized.
“There are people that got hurt,” he said.
“I think she is guilty,” added Highland Park resident Samantha Brooks as she approached her car outside Sunset Foods at Green Bay Road and Central Avenue.
Some shoppers simply shook their heads with sadness or remarked that the accident was a tragedy for both families.
“It’s a shame any child should be taken like that,” Lou Werner of Highland Park said.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thank you for commenting.
Your comment will be held for approval by the blog owner.