- Target:
- Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz
- Region:
- United States of America
John Omick of Harlingen Texas was recently charged with a second degree felony for child endangerment related to a tragic accident in which his daughter's best friend, Avery Ortiz, was killed.
The two girls and Avery's brother were operating a lemonade stand on Austin street, behind the Omick's house, when Avery walked into the street to deliver lemonade to a parked car. A west bound car apparently never saw Avery and hit her as she tried to cross the street. The driver stopped to render aid. John, who had gone into the house to get ice for the kids, returned to the street and began life saving CPR measures prior to the paramedics arriving. Tragically, Avery died at the hospital later that afernoon.
Two months later, the Harlingen Police Department concluded their investigation and, as a result, the Cameron County District Attorney decided to bring criminal charges against John. This was despite the fact that Child Protective Services conducted their own investigation and found no wrong doing. John now faces a felony offense, potential jail time, and significant fines.
The purpose of this public petition is to implore you to drop the unfounded and unjust charges of child endangerment and abandonment brought against John Omick of Harlingen.
The death of Avery Ortiz was a senseless tragedy that in no way was caused or could have been prevented by the actions of Mr. Omick. Quite to the contrary, Mr. Omick did everything he could to save Avery Ortiz by administering basic life saving CPR until the emergency medical services arrived. This is a major contradiction to the inaccurate story reported by the media, placing Mr. Omick at a store off of the premises at the time of the accident.
Furthermore, Child Protective Services found no evidence of neglect or abandonment in their investigation, which is now closed. While we have no doubt that the meritless charges will be thrown out by a court of law, you must do the right thing now by closing this case.
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The Drop all charges against John Omick now! petition to Cameron County District Attorney Luis V. Saenz was written by Lucy Ann Wolthoff and is in the category Justice at GoPetition.