Donna Fife's neighborhood—raw video

I have promised to keep up with the goings-on with the Donna Fife case. Please see my previous entries, “A Disaster Waiting to Happen” and “Update: Woman Killed by Neighborhood Menace”
The suspect, Richard Delgado, was scheduled to plea in court today; I promise an update as soon as I can learn if there were court proceedings.
In the meantime, I found this:

CBS 5 Video

This is raw video of Donna Fife’s neighborhood and also of a police spokesperson talking about the crime (two separate videos). Note the skid marks all over the neighborhood street and the size of the fence Delgado drove through. Neither are edited so both are a bit slow-moving.

The neighborhood street video is sad. There are no people in it, but you’ll see it was a sunshiney day with birds singing and airplanes overhead, taken the day after Donna’s murder.

There are also videos of the BART shooting on that same page. “Outrage in Oakland.”

If Donna’s cousin stops by and knows if there was a court appearance by neighborhood menace Delgado, please offer a comment. I'm positive this selfish bag of human cells will plead not guilty and come up with plenty of reasons why. In this country, that's his right. It's also my right to ensure that Donna Fife will not be forgotten!

Update: Woman Killed by Neighborhood Menace

(Photo of Donna Fife. She will not be forgotten.)

Richard Delgado, the 19-year old admitted gang member who ran over Donna Fife on Monday night was formally charged with her murder today (January 22). He is being held without bail.

According to San José Police Department investigator’s notes, Delgado glared at Fife as she wrote down his auto license number and yelled, “I’m going to get you” before driving a Honda Civic over her.

Due to that remark, Delgado could face life in prison because the crime was premeditated.

He will next appear in Santa Clara County Superior Court on January 29 when he is expected to offer a plea.

Condolences to Donna's family. It is double-tragic when a person dies while trying to do the right thing in keeping her neighborhood safe. Hopefully the SJPD and the Santa Clara County court system will do the right thing by Donna, and that Richard Delgado gets his just desserts.

San Jose Mercury News diagram of crime scene

Court document: San Jose man yelled 'I'm gonna get you' before running over neighbor

A Disaster Waiting to Happen …

The residents of Thainwood Way in southeast San José were tired of being victims of kids having too good a time speeding their cars through their neighborhood, screeching tires well into the night, practicing donuts on the corner.

A 25-year resident of Thainwood Way, 46-year old Donna Fife had had enough of the kids and their irresponsible driving habits. Yes, San José Police Department had been called to the Silver Creek area numerous times, but were unable to enforce any laws because they had not personally viewed the infractions. Neighborhood troublemaker Richard Delgado, age 19, was one of the most egregious offenders, responsible for plenty of skid marks left near Silver Creek Valley and Yerba Buena Roads.

On Monday, January 19 at 11 p.m., Fife heard a crashing sound and went outside to investigate. She found Delgado had crashed a family member’s Lincoln into a neighbor’s fence. Fife rapped on the neighbor’s door and told him, “Richard knocked down your fence, did you know that?”

Delgado was quite notorious in the neighborhood. An admitted Norteño gang member, Delgado does not have a driver’s license but does have a criminal history including theft and reckless driving. In September 2008, he pleaded no contest to driving without a license and reckless driving—he crashed a car over a curb near his grandmother’s house. His jail sentence was suspended.

That didn’t stop him from driving. Delgado, who lived with his grandmother, continued to drive and terrorize the neighborhood in family vehicles, including a black Lincoln and a Honda Civic.

While Fife was at the neighbor’s door, Delgado backed the Lincoln out of the fence, drove the car around the corner, abandoned it and ran home to get another car, the Honda. Fife followed Delgado and was standing in Delgado’s neighbor’s front yard, on the lawn, writing down the license plate number to give to police, when Delgado backed the car out of the driveway (of course leaving a skid mark), then pulled forward over the curb, onto the sidewalk, onto the lawn and running over Fife head-on. According to another neighbor, Delgado ran over Fife’s stomach and face. He then drove off, abandoned that car and took off on foot, where he was shortly apprehended by police responding to the second call.

Donna Fife died on her neighbor’s cold wet lawn in her husband Mark’s arms.

SJPD/911 was called 11:03 p.m., but because at that time was only a damaged property call, with no harm to human life, police response was slow. Police showed up at 11:25 p.m., two minutes after receiving a 911 call regarding the suspect running over the woman with his car.

Delgado’s family claims he’s a “goodhearted person to his family” and was just confused. “I believe he panicked after he hit the fence. He didn’t know what he was doing,” said his aunt, Raquelle Delgado. She said that she knows none of the neighbors likes Richard.

Delgado spent 83 days in jail for the theft of two bicycles at nearby Silver Creek High School. He and a friend used a handsaw to cut through the bikes’ locks and then confronted the owners with an air gun. He applied for a driver’s license last March and May but the license was not issued because he did not fill out the application properly or pay the fees.

In October, he was convicted of throwing trash out of a car window. He failed to appear in court 15 days later, and fined for misdemeanor charges.

Neighbors said Delgado has been an out-of-control pain in the neighborhood’s side since he was a child.

This is a sad case of the police failing to protect a neighborhood, the court system failing to come down hard on a repeat offender (who was no longer a juvenile), an admitted gang member, and most of all, a family who let a male child run amuck well past childhood. Yes, it is hard to control adult children. But Richard Delgado’s family created a self-indulgent monster and helped that monster to thrive and become an expert in creating chaos. It’s fairly easy to keep car keys away from someone; what else is going on in that household?

This is one of these cases that I hope not only ends up in life in prison for the defendant, but also a nice fat civil suit against Delgado and his family—because you are ultimately responsible for whomever drives your car, and the Delgado family acted recklessly by knowingly and repeatedly letting the troubled teen drive without a license. It won’t make the Fife family feel any better, but the Delgado family may take notice of their failure to act and how a decent citizen paid for the Delgado’s indulgence with her life.

Delgado is cooling his jets in the Santa Clara County jail, charged with the murder of Donna Fife. Mark Fife is planning his wife’s funeral.

Unlicensed San Jose driver strikes, kills woman in front yard

San Jose man arrested after neighbor is fatally run down