A Community Shows It Cares
Recently our local news covered the story of a police standoff in the city of Manteca, California. It was a pretty standard story, a couple of would be bank robbers were running from the police and ran inside a duplex, displacing the residents and leading to an hours long standoff. Happily that part of the story ended without anyone being hurt.
But the story had a followup, one that probably applies to every standoff around the country. In order to get the bad guys out without the use of lethal force the police relied on techniques like tear gas. While quite effective in persuading the alleged felons to surrender, the gas and the efforts of the suspects to remain in the property led to considerable damage to the contents and the structure.
The police, understandably, take the position that barring negligence, they are not liable for damages, rather than blame goes with the suspects. While this may seem a bit harsh, you can’t have police officers worried that they might have to pay to fix a window when they are trying to save lives. It’s a tough law but a necessary one.
The owner of the building is reportedly insured, so they will be able to rebuild. But the occupants were renters and they did not have renters insurance. In addition this property is not exactly in the wealthy section of town and the families accordingly had few resources to rebuild from. One family is a young couple with a newborn son, the other a single mom with two kids.
However as is often the case in stories like these, there is a happy ending. After news reports were aired about the problems faced by these families they were quite literally overwhelmed with the response. People from all over the city came to donate money, food, clothing, furniture and everything in between.
Local law enforcement officers from several cities took up collections to help them out. Local businesses provided free food and donated money from a days revenue to help out. It was a pure demonstration of generosity and caring.
If you’d like to help out they are still taking donations, information can be found here
One Response to “A Community Shows It Cares”
That is an awesome story.
It just goes to show you the overwhelming generosity of the American people; and one of the reasons I love this country.
It's a good thing this story broke when it did.
I believe Barbara Boxer and Nancy Pelosi were in the process of creating a multi-trillion-dollar bureacracy for this purpose.
The generous people of Manteca, California foiled their plans.