An open letter to Aiesha’s parents
Editor, The Times,
I am sorry about the savage beating that your daughter endured at the hands of her peers in the Metro transit tunnel last week [“Lawyer defends tunnel victim,” NWFriday, Feb. 19]. I am sorry that the Seattle police and the security guards did not come to her aid. Having said that, I would like to ask some important questions and offer you some advice.
Where were you at midnight on May 23 when your daughter assaulted the lady in Edmonds? Do you allow your daughter to roam the streets at night and who is parenting this young lady? Where were you when your daughter assaulted the guard on Rainier Avenue last September?
Stop making this girl out to be a martyr. Your daughter is just like her attackers, she has no regard for the law and has had more than one brush with the law. When she attacked her victim in Edmonds, Aiesha admitted to the police that she struck the victim — Tamie Cox — and stole her purse. In September, she pleaded guilty to attempted second-degree robbery for punching the security guard in the head after he stopped her from shoplifting. Do you see a pattern here!
Mom, you sat with her on the “Good Morning America” show and faced millions of viewers, giving them — and me — the impression that your daughter is an angel. How dare you! You need to call the program managers and apologize to them and to the American public.
The security guards and the Seattle police were negligent in their duty to protect your daughter from her attackers, but tell me, who is going to protect me from your daughter if I am out late at night, minding my own business and walking to my home in Edmonds.
— Brenda Burke, Edmonds