SEATTLE NEWS ARCHIVES & FEATURES
Dori: Soft on crime policies from state Democrats have tragic consequences
Jan 18, 2022, 3:46 PM | Updated: Jan 19, 2022, 7:22 am
A memorial for Immaculee Goldade (left) and an image of a suspect in the hit and run (right). (KIRO 7)
(KIRO 7)
I can’t hide from it: This story really hurts. Two 12-year-old girls, walking hand-in-hand Saturday morning, well off to the side of a Midland Road in Pierce County, were struck by a hit-and-run driver of a long flatbed pickup, whose owner had reported the truck stolen.
Photos: Person of interest in Pierce County hit-and-run caught on camera
Immaculee Goldade’s parents are grieving the loss of their sweet daughter.
“She just found joy in life,” her dad told a Q13 reporter as they made plans to bury their daughter, while her friend, Kathleen Olson, recovers in the hospital.
That is the human side of statistics – and statistics do not lie.
Just last evening, I got an email with some amazing stats from a Kitsap County police officer. In 2021, he wrote, there were a record 639 vehicles stolen in that county alone.
Between December 2021 and Jan. 15, 2022, 230 vehicles were stolen. In the first 11 days of 2022: 74 car thefts; that’s nearly seven each day. As the officer explained, that puts Kitsap County on pace to have 2,454 stolen cars in 2022. Similar patterns can be found statewide.
Why the skyrocketing surge?
Washington state Democrats in the Legislature have made it open season for car thefts. When a new law passed straight down party lines last year, Democrats freed up criminals to flee, avoiding high speed pursuits.
“Criminals know they can and will get away,” the officer wrote. “It is insane.”
In this new legislative season, state Rep. Roger Goodman (D-Kirkland) – who spearheaded the new law with state Rep. Jesse Johnson (D-Federal Way) – has told me that he has some “fixes” in mind.
This does nothing to bring back the life of Immaculee Goldade, but her parents say “they need peace.”
“People are praying for him, as well,” Amber Goldade said about the hit-and-run driver. “If he’s going to do anything right in this at all, he should turn himself in.”
Anyone with information is urged to call the Pierce County Sheriff’s Office at (253) 798-3278.
Listen to Dori Monson weekday afternoons from noon – 3 p.m. on KIRO Newsradio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.
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