Five hundred twenty thousand dollars — the price of freedom after committing a violent and heinous crime. For the family, friends and fellow community members of Davis resident Mikey Partida, it is perhaps a price still too small for the risk of letting alleged attacker Clayton Garzon walk free until trial after being charged with a hate crime on March 10.
The 20-year-old was arrested March 14 for allegedly instigating a physical altercation with Partida on I Street, uttering homophobic slurs, leaving the victim bloodied, hospitalized and in therapy at the UC Davis Medical Center. Garzon was set free on bail for little over half a million dollars on March 28, having already been released on bail for a stabbing in Dixon last year.
We here at The Aggie view hate crimes with the utmost disgust. In a population so inherently endowed with principles of community, it is shocking to find such acts within our borders and especially in a citizen so young.
It is also disgusting to see how wealth allows special privileges for criminals that happen to fall in a higher socio-economic class. While it was perhaps a fine gesture by the Yolo County court system to raise the price of bail so high, it is unfortunate they did not take into account the possibility that Garzon’s family could actually afford it. Now the damage has been done, and a potentially dangerous individual walks among us all because of the depth of his parents’ wallets.
To the victim and his family, we humbly offer our deepest of sympathies and wish a speedy recovery.
We urge every resident of Davis to exercise caution in potentially dangerous situations. While our town is often lauded for safety, the recent trend in local crime shows otherwise.
If there is any justice, the victim will find a full recovery, peace of mind and appropriate reparations, and should Garzon be found guilty, he will sit behind bars with a live-television broadcast of the Supreme Court ruling in favor of LGBT equality.
