Erika Peña is a hero.
She was doing a car date in Laredo, Texas, on September 14, 2018 when the man pointed a gun at her and grabbed her blouse. She was able to slip out of her shirt, escape the car then run until she found a state trooper. The man who attacked her, Juan David Ortiz, had been about to make Erika his fifth murder victim.
This Friday during the Street Safe outreach, we will be telling the women we serve about Erika Peña. Because she is the type of hero the women on the street need to hear about.
When Ortiz pointed a gun at her, she was in a situation similar to that faced by many women who do car dates. But what she did afterward was something few street prostitutes in Albuquerque would do — tell police.
There is a good reason the women from our streets don’t ask APD for help after being attacked — because they likely will be laughed at and told “they deserved it.” No reports are taken and there is no investigation.
While most individual officers are good people who want to help the women, the culture they face at the station tells them to do the exact opposite. Experienced officers — who tout the status quo — explain to the new recruits “This is how things are done.”
Time after time, I’ve had former APD officers tell me it was common practice to ignore attack or rape calls involving prostitutes. The EMS crews in the International District used to even have a name for such calls — “the cockroach files.”
If Erika’s attack had happened here instead of Laredo and she had asked a “status quo” officer for help, she likely would have been told “she deserved it.”
And Juan David Ortiz would still be out killing.
But on Friday, when we share Erika’s story with the women on the street, it will not be about finding fault with APD.
It will be about hope.
About how change is possible.
About how there is a place where crime victims are not ignored just because they sell sex.
And how, unfortunately, that place is Laredo, Texas.
— By Christine Barber, executive director, Street Safe New Mexico
To read more about Erika Peña’s escape, click here
Women of the District 
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