He didn’t make it. He died at 4 a.m.

By all accounts, he wasn’t involved in the fight. Just an innocent bystander. I feel terrible. I’ve been composing this blog post in my head ever since. Something else happened this past weekend that made me decide to finally write it. I’ll get to that in a minute.

The kid was a mild irritant. He had an old Buick that he worked on incessantly. Painted metallic blue and silver, with lots of chrome, those hydraulics that would lift it up high off the wheels, and mufflers that made the engine LOUD. He thought he was cool driving that thing around. He looked ridiculous.

I feel terrible in part because I was just as ridiculous and probably far more irritating when I was his age. I had a black Camaro Z28 with a special after market stereo (remember 8 Track?), that I played LOUD. With my black aviator shades (that I wore even at night), I thought I was cool.

But I’ve lived my life. And I’m still alive. He’ll never meet a special girl, fall in love, have that girl gently wean him away from his childish endeavors, have a family and a career, and experience all the ups and downs that come with those.

The family next door immigrated here from Mexico. They’re hard working people. Even now, in the depth of this recession, they all have jobs. They’re up and out early in the morning. When they’re home they’re working on the house and the yard. I looked up their real estate record. They bought the house 12 years ago. They immigrated here and they worked hard and became legal residents. They had their little piece of the American dream. Now they also have a piece of the American nightmare.

This past weekend there was another shooting in downtown Sarasota. Three blocks from where I live. Right on Main St. at 9 p.m. on Saturday night, a half block away from a busy movie theater. There’s a small well-lit park where teenagers hang out. This 18 year old boy was parading around with a large Confederate flag. A black kid accused him of being a racist. An argument ensued. The black kid shot the kid with the flag. The wounded kid was flown to that same trauma center and he’s currently in critical but stable condition.

How ignorant to be parading around with a Confederate flag. Turns out the kid isn’t even a Southerner. He’s only been living here for a few years and is from Pennsylvania. But ignorance doesn’t deserve death. When you shoot somebody at close range, you’re trying to kill him.

When I read the above story in the newspaper, I decided to look up how much violent crime there is in Sarasota. Turns out, there’s a LOT. Take a look at this:

http://www.neighborhoodscout.com/fl/sarasota/crime/

I Googled ‘Sarasota Violent Crime’ and came up with a half dozen of these kinds of sites that rate the crime in different cities and towns. They all agree that Sarasota has one of the highest crime rates of anywhere in the US. More than almost anywhere in the first world.

I come back to “Why?” Can anybody tell me? What is it about Sarasota that causes it to have such a high rate of murders, rapes and violent assaults per capita? You can reply via commenting. Just click on the ‘Comment’ text that appears at the top of this post.

What?

I didn’t think of it until well after I had hung up, but the phrase ‘Right to a Speedy Trial’ popped into my head. So I decided to do a little research. I found the following on the Attorney General of Florida’s ‘A Guide for Victims’ web page:

How long will the process take?

The defendant has the right to a speedy trial, within 180 days (six months) of the time he/she is arrested and/or charged by information or indictment. During this time the defendant must be arraigned, discovery must be conducted (the process whereby the defendant, through his or her attorney examines evidence and witnesses the State will present at trial), pretrial motions must be heard, plea negotiations will be held, and a trial or plea and sentencing will take place. However, the defendant can waive speedy trial if he or she needs more time to prepare the case. Therefore, some cases may take more than 180 days to resolve.

According to the Constitution, victims also have a right to a speedy trial, but only to the extent that this right does not interfere with the constitutional rights of the accused. A time period for the victims right to a speedy trial has not been defined by the law.

During the time the case is pending, the Office of Statewide Prosecution will keep you informed of all court dates as well as any delays in reaching the resolution of the case. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the prosecutor assigned to your case.

So, if I’m understanding this correctly, the trial should begin in six months. Not a year.

I’ll have to call the SAS. He’s been very accommodating. He, obviously, knows much more about this process than I do.

If anybody out there has any experience with a Victim’s Right to a Speedy Trial, please comment. I’d like to learn more. I don’t want to wait around for a year for the trial to start. I want to get this behind me. I’d think the assailant would too.