City Librarian as Crime Fighter
August 11, 2008
This past weekend there was a truly horrific hit and run accident near where I live in San Jose. Two elderly women were killed while in a crosswalk, crossing a major street. The whole thing is tremendously sad for the friends and family members of the women, and my heart goes out to them.
But at least, thanks to a concerned citizen and the Santa Clara City Librarian, the suspect was arreseted today. On Saturday, a witness followed the car and got the license plate number. The number was released to the public. Today, the suspect was recognized and arrested at the library where I'm a Foundation Board Member (the Santa Clara City Library). As reported on ABC7 News:
"The city librarian heard about the accident, recognized the suspect and car description and called police.
"Very quiet, police basically approached the suspect, escorted him from the library building and took him away in a police car," says librarian Karen Saunders."
Karen Saunders is the city librarian who I just mentioned in my vacation reading wrap-up, with whom I share a love of mysteries. That's my librarian and book buddy, recognizing a suspect, verifying that his car was on the premises, and calling the police (another library employee was also involved, but wasn't interviewed). How cool is that? It's like something out of a book. I'm proud that the people at my library made a difference, and took action to help bring these families closure.
In addition to the ABC7 story, Karen was also interviewed on KTVU 2 News and NBC11 News (with thanks to Foundation Executive Director Maria Daane for the news, and to Foundation President David Stringer-Calvert for tracking down the links). Updated to add: this San Jose Mercury News article has a bit more detail about the story.
© 2009 by Jennifer Robinson of Jen Robinson's Book Page. All rights reserved.