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Mother of murdered actor blasts LA’s Dem mayor for city’s ‘pro-criminal atmosphere’

August 10, 2024 | | Print Article

Delayed justice had the mother of slain “General Hospital” actor Johnny Wactor calling out “pro-criminal” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass (D).

“I want her to come out and stand up for what’s wrong with that city.”

(Video: Fox News)

Irreparably damaging lives and businesses, soft-on-crime policies have been the scourge of once-thriving cities. Thursday, as the Los Angeles Police Department only recently released an image of the suspects believed responsible for killing the actor during an alleged catalytic converter theft, the victim’s mother, Scarlett Wactor, joined “Fox & Friends” to demand change.

When asked by Fox News host Ainsley Earhardt what she wanted from Bass, Wactor explained, “I want her to come out and stand up for what’s wrong with that city.”

Referencing Anita Joy, the co-worker who had been with her son when he finished his shift at a downtown bar before they came upon the alleged thieves, she explained, “It is a pro-criminal atmosphere. They’re obviously not afraid. If you listen to Anita’s story, she talked about them laughing and talking as they’re walking down the sidewalk. They (the suspects) heard them, but you know they didn’t take off because they know there’s not much that will happen. The threshold for felonies, right under [$]1,000, and so what can you do?”

“Maybe had there been a police car coming around every three, four minutes, they would at least have been caught, even if his life wouldn’t have been saved,” added Wactor. “Maybe 911 not putting the call on hold when they called. I want her to come out and say you’re gonna change and change it.”

Over the weekend, the police released an image of four suspects and a stolen Infiniti Q50 that three of them had fled the scene in seeking help from the community to identify the individuals believed responsible for the May 25 killing.

Ahead of a planned press conference in front of City Hall Tuesday to demand justice for her son, Wactor told co-host Lawrence Jones that she wanted to see two things done to curb crime in Los Angeles. She believed they needed to reduce the charging threshold to a lower dollar value and that more cops needed to be hired by the city. “Let them know they’re going to get caught. Even if they do it, they’re going to run smack-dab into a police car.”

Her demand came as even California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) had admitted that more needed to be done to combat crime, specifically talking about violence in Oakland.

As Mayor Shen Thao (D) faced a recall effort and calls from the police union to resign, Newsom had encouraged the city to “pursue suspects in more circumstances” as many criminals were allowed to flee.

Wactor’s demands against Bass, who’d replaced LA Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) who’d been appointed to serve as U.S. Ambassador to India by President Joe Biden, were akin to those by comedian Jay Leno who, shortly after the death of the actor, had voiced his own issue with the misdemeanor charge typically associated with the theft of catalytic converters.

“The slap on the wrist most thieves receive — if they even get nabbed,” said Leno, “is the reason they’re so brazen.”

Kevin Haggerty
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