‘It Will Just Get Worse’ RECALL VALENZUELA AND SAVE NEIGHBORHOODS, DAN TIBBITTS SAYS
Dan Tibbitts looking at the spot where they found his sister Kate. Photos by Aniko Kiezel
CH By Cecily Hastings Publisher’s Desk
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POC AUG n 22
Combined with a state policy of early release of prisoners, decriminalizing violent offenses and zero bail, Dan Tibbitts may be prophetic when he says everyone will become a victim.
“K
ate was my sister, but also my close friend. We lived a mile apart and walked several times a week in Land Park with our dogs. And, as of that fateful day last year, my friend is not here anymore. That will be with me forever,” Dan Tibbitts says. Kate Tibbitts was raped and murdered last September in her home on 11th Avenue. Her dogs Molly and Jenny were killed. Her house was torched. The next day police arrested a homeless man named Troy Davis for parole violations and warrants. Murder and rape charges were added when investigators linked Davis to Kate’s death. A history of assault, battery and drug charges follows Davis from at least 2013. The parolee was arrested for car theft three months before Kate was killed. But California’s zero-bail policy put him back on the streets almost immediately. “Kate was taken from us in an extremely violent manner that nobody should ever experience,” Dan says. “Most people have absolutely no idea what victims and their families go through in the aftermath.” Dan is working to recall City Council member Katie Valenzuela, who seeks to defund police while advocating for homeless people. “My issues with Councilmember Valenzuela are simple,” he says. “First, she refuses to hold the homeless community accountable for the crimes they commit, which is a bad thing by itself. Let alone hold them accountable for the crimes they commit against victims in their own community. “This all is made even worse when she wants to drastically defund the police, which disproportionately harms low-income and minority neighborhoods. Folks who in fact want more police presence rather than less. Either one is a bad, but in combination, it’s deadly. My sister Kate paid the ultimate price.” Dan believes more residents will come to share his feelings through tragic experiences. “Eventually we’re all going to be victimized—or be acquaintances, relatives and friends of victims,” he says. “When Prop. 57 passed—I opposed it—I thought it only a matter of time for society to figure out that releasing these bad people from prison has very
