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A dad in Maryland is slamming prosecutors in Baltimore who he claims are behind rising crime amongst juveniles in the area.
Santiago Garcia-Diaz says his son Bryce, 15, has been arrested multiple times for carjacking and thefts in both Baltimore and Washington, D.C., and that his hope was the law would back him up when it came to teaching Bryce a lesson.
He says not only have they not helped to get his son under control, they’ve made the situation worse through inaction.
‘He started breaking into cars to steal cigarettes and chains then you’re stealing cars and running from the police,’ the worried dad told one Baltimore outlet. ‘He’s not going to be alive, that’s what I’m afraid of. It’s progressively getting worse.’
Santiago Garcia-Diaz says his 15-year-old son Bryce is constantly smoking marijuana and stealing cars
The worried father spoke with a local news outlet in Baltimore to share his concerns over the inaction from law enforcement when it comes to his son’s out of control behavior
The father says his son is out of control and the prosecutors in the area are not helping as his son has repeatedly been let off the hook.
Santiago shared his son’s arrest record from earlier this year with Fox45 in Maryland.
The documents he gave to the outlet showed Bryce, just 15-years-old, had been arrested alongside a friend for stealing two cars and going on a high-speed chase.
Bryce and his friend stole a Lexus and a Honda CRV and then led police officers through busy streets.
Santiago says his child almost killed two police officers who were attempting to stop him during that incident.
‘They was trying to barricade my son in. Someone tried to stop and he took the gas and tried to drive right through ’em, knocked ’em out of his shoes,’ he said.
Santiago claims not only are law enforcement not helping him out by teaching his son a lesson, but they have threatened to charge him for abandonment and neglect for not showing up to pick up his child.
After the high-speed chase with police, Santiago claims police told him he had three hours to get to the station or he would be arrested.
The dad says his son has had 18 charged dropped and only one misdemeanor conspiracy charge has remained, which resulted in probation which he has repeatedly broken the terms of
‘I don’t know what to do anymore,’ he said. ‘I’ve looked into boot camps and I just can’t afford it.’
Santiago says he was threatened when he tried to teach his son a lesson.
He’s a father who believes his son needs to be punished to be rescued.
‘I want my son to get some help. I mean, if it’s jail that what’s is gonna take; then jail. What my son needs he needs some mental help.’
Santiago says he’s now facing restitution fines for his son’s crimes that are taking a heavy financial toll on his family, he’s also set up a GoFundMe page in response.
The Garcia-Diaz family lives in Baltimore, which has recorded more than 600 instances of carjacking in 2022 alone
The dad says he has had petitions signed by judges in the area so Bryce could be committed for a psych evaluation.
The petitions resulted in nothing, however, as the hospitals wouldn’t accept him without a record, Santiago claims.
After one incident, Bryce was allegedly sentenced to six months of probation.
His dad says he violated every term of his probation ‘the first day.’
‘Nothing ever happened,’ he said.
15-year-old Bryce has had several run-ins with the law in Baltimore, pictured above, and also in Washington, D.C.
According to a GoFundMe set up by the Baltimore dad, Bryce is one of three children and has been diagnosed with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Attention Deficit Hyper Disorder, and Oppositional Defiant Disorder.
‘I have three beautiful kids that I would lay down and die for but I have one son and I’ve tried everything in my power to get him help from himself,’ the dad said.
The incidents began ramping up about two and a half years ago, he says. Before that, Bryce only had minor issues with ‘stealing’ and ‘sneaking away.’
Now, he has been arrested more than five times, carjacked individuals, and is constantly smoking marijuana and ‘popping pills.’ Santiago says it’s become an issue for their whole entire family.
The first month of 2022 saw 51 carjackings and 203 robberies. Those numbers have since ballooned to 533 and 2,400, respectively
Santiago says Bryce’s story perfectly encapsulates the issues with the criminal justice system in Baltimore at the moment.
He believes cases like Bryce’s are what’s driving an uptick in juvenile crime.
‘This isn’t even about my son, this is about Baltimore City’s kids, this is about all juvenile delinquents,’ he said.
In all of the incidents, Santiago says 18 total charges against Bryce have been dropped and the one remaining was the one that ended with probation.
Baltimore’s crime stats remain high with more than 330 homicides in 2021
Santiago claims Bryce has crashed a stolen vehicle through a house and run over a police officer with the car.
That arrest came with an assault and battery of an officer charge that was also dropped. Bryce faced one charge of conspiracy, which is a misdemeanor.
The dad says he has tried writing the mayor and the governor and that they helped by putting a GPS tracking device on him, but that he has already cut it off once.
Santiago says he feels he is out of ideas and he just doesn’t know what to do at this point.
Baltimore has become a hot-spot for crime in recent years
Baltimore’s streets no longer seem safe for many residents as shootings, carjackings, and thefts seemingly run rampant
Despite heavy police presence throughout the city, crime is still heavy in the Maryland city
‘I’m so worried that my son is not going to see the age of 18,’ he said.
Santiago says he’s terrified his child will die in a chase involving police or he may kill someone in a chase.
He also says he’s now been summoned to court over damage done by Bryce during one of his ‘outings.’
Santiago has been ‘advised to seek legal counsel as he says he believes the owner of the house Bryce crashed into during one incident and the owner of the stolen vehicle he was driving will want to sue.
The GoFundMe is to help cover expenses from legal fees and any restitution he may have to pay.
‘Please say a prayer for me and please a very special prayer for my son,’ Santiago wrote. ‘Our whole family would be lost if something happens that takes him off this planet.’
Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby, in 2021 said that ‘the era of “tough on crime” is over’
In 2021, Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced she make permanent a policy brought into effect during the pandemic to no longer prosecute drug possession, prostitution and nonviolent misdemeanors.
‘The era of “tough on crime” is over,’ she declared in an interview with the Washington Post, vowing instead to divert offenders into programs to combat addiction and mental health disorders.
According to the City of Baltimore, there have been more than 25,000 reported crimes this year alone.
With two months to go in 2022, there have been more than 4,600 aggravated assaults, 533 carjackings, 2,400 robberies, and 603 shootings.
As of October 30, there have also been 278 homicides in the city.
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