Family and friends of an Oakland baker who was dragged to her death during a robbery say she would not have wanted her killer to stand trial.
“I think Jen would say that of course that’s what people have been trained to believe is the answer, to lock people up,” Emily Harris, a close friend of Jen Angel, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “But we know that if the people who cause you harm go to jail, all we’re doing is perpetuating more harm.”
Angel, the owner of Angel Cakes bakery, died on thursday for injuries she sustained after being confronted by armed robbers who broke her car window outside an Oakland Wells Fargo and fled with her belongings.
Angel tried to pursue the suspects, but was caught in the door of their vehicle as they were leaving the scene and was dragged more than 50 feet before her head hit the sidewalk and they drove away.
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Jen Angel, owner of Angel Cakes Bakery, was pronounced dead Thursday (Loving Bridge)
Angel was pronounced dead Thursday at a hospital after two failed attempts to take him off life support.
“As a long-time anarchist and social movement activist, Jen did not believe in state violence, prison punishment or incarceration as an effective or just solution to societal violence and inequity,” the family said. wrote in a statement.
Harris, who says she was Angel’s first political mentor, explained that she’s not saying there shouldn’t be “accountability,” but that doesn’t mean “putting a person to greater harm.”
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Angel Cakes Bakery in Oakland (Google Earth)
Harris says she contacted Restore Oakland, a local nonprofit, about the situation.
The group’s website says it is a “community hub where people come together to cultivate solidarity, restorative economics, and healing justice in their neighborhoods.”
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Oakland, California urban skyline on a cloudy day, January 8, 2019. (Photo by the Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images)
“If the Oakland Police Department makes an arrest in this case, the family is committed to pursuing all available alternatives to traditional prosecution, including restorative justice,” the family said.
The Oakland Police Department is investigating the crime as a homicide and believes two suspects known to the department are involved but no arrests have been made.
