Tragic incident needs full investigation
To the Editor,
This is a letter in regards to the tragic death of Jennie Gervasio. To shed some light and history into the life of Jennie, I would like to make it clear that she is not a member of the “Dream Act,” nor is she in our community on a visa or Green Card. Given she may not be related to the Crosettis, Manns or Antle families, who in their own way are pillars in our community. Jennie is related to the Vasquez, Marquez and Martinez families who are some of the oldest Mexican families in the Watsonville area.
Jennie’s mom and my mom relocated here together to the Watsonville area years ago to re-unite with other family members before either one of us were even born. I’m 60 years old, so you can say it’s been a while.
Jennie was and always will be an original native of the Watsonville community regardless of the last name or blood line. In short, her death should be treated with an actual investigation into all aspects of the incident.
For Mr. Ridgway to make the statement that no crime seems to have been committed because “No alcohol was involved” and “The light was green” seems to be the statement of a defense attorney more than an investigating police office, for that matter probably the supervising police official. I know that in my world a green light means “go” in a car race; I really don’t think that if people were actually racing that they would race against a red light. So the fact that the light was green, red, purple really doesn’t lay any credence to his statement.
Also, I really don’t understand how he came to the conclusion that “No alcohol was involved.” I’m not sure what kind of test was conducted on the driver, maybe some type of field test that is not admissible in court. I do know for a fact that if a blood test was administered the results could not have been back from the lab.
I sense some frustration from the family, specifically Angelic, who states that many witnesses did in fact state that the cars were racing. I know for a fact that if myself, Vincent Marquez, were driving that car and I had killed someone, I know where I would be sitting this minute, and it would not be at McDonald’s. Mr. Ridgway, several people stated that the cars were racing, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out.
Hopefully, some type of double standard is not being set by our local law enforcement; more hopefully our community is not going to stand by and watch it happen.
My condolences go out to the family, I can feel your pain. Hopefully others will and we can get to the bottom of this tragic incident. Whatever the outcome of a full investigation, it will not bring Jennie back, but it will bring respect to her death.
Vincent Soto Marquez
California State Prison, Sierra Conservation Center
