Cops say Eureka is a Hellhole; Public wants it to stay that way

You know there is a really, really bad crime problem when the chief of police gives a public statement describing Eureka as a "hellhole".


The sad thing is, he's right. Eureka has turned into a wasteland of meth addicts and criminals (they seem to be one in the same), and even the "nice" neighborhoods are on high alert. When I go home at night I make a couple passes through my entire neighborhood keeping an eye out for tweekers on bikes who ride through the streets of Eureka after dark casing out cars, outbuildings, and homes for weaknesses or valuables. They have been observed putting their ear against a target building, presumably to listen for sounds of a marijuana grow operation, but they will strike any residence with an open window or unlocked door. Here is an excellent example of a criminal in Eureka casing an outbuilding from an alleyway (notice the timestamp--these guys operate in broad daylight):


Unfortunately, many Eureka residents would rather file lawsuits against the EPD and demand law enforcement reform than support the cops and try to help curb this horrible crime epidemic. We all remember the Burgess shooting, in which a meth-using, knife-weilding, dangerous criminal was shot at close range after he threatened multiple law enforcement officers. Burgess's deluded mother still thinks her son was a "good kid" and that the EPD should have to "pay" for his death.

Well now we have Alan Cooke, father of Zachary Cruz Cooke who was gunned down by a 6-man task force after he shot at them with a stolen shotgun. Zachary is believed to be the criminal who fired shots at a Humboldt County Sheriff a few days ago in Myrtletown. Alan Cooke now thinks he can he can sue the EPD and other agencies involved in the shootout with his son for wrongful death. He swears his son was hiding when he was shot multiple times by officers, not shooting at them. It isn't clear how Mr. Cooke obtained this information since he was not actually at the scene of the shootout when his son was killed, and it also doesn't seem to account for the stolen shotgun Cooke used to fire at the task force, which showed evidence of having been recently discharged. And of course, according to Alan Cooke, his son (like Burgess) was "a good intelligent person".

In any case, there really is a terrible crime problem in Eureka and Humboldt, as well as a few, uh, confused and perhaps misguided parents of violent drug-using criminals. Parents who think they can raise kids who rob people at gunpoint, use drugs, and shoot at cops, then blame everyone else when that kid goes down in a firey blaze of gunsmoke with a stolen shotgun at some meth hovel on Albee St.

---