TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Outside of the Tucson Mayor and City Council meeting on Wednesday, a group of bicyclists from Tuesday Night Ride were there in support of Enrique “Kix” Mercado. Mercado passed away two weeks ago after being stabbed on the Loop while riding with them.
“Enrique is a great person. It’s sad that…it’s unfortunate that it took this, all of us to get together for that,” Mark Urias, the groups co-host said. “I’ve been cycling for years here and I kind of feel like it’s been getting worse and worse and worse.”
On Tuesday, Paris, Kix’s daughter was at the city council’s meeting to ask them to clean and secure trails.
To keep the Loop safe, Urias said it needs to be cleaned up and homeless should be relocated. He feels like it’s going to take a group effort between the Tucson Police Department and the City of Tucson.
“If we’re able to help clean up that area, whether it’s the cops clean it up or help from the people in the City cleaning it up, I’m sure cyclists would love to help,” he said. “It would definitely help future rides. I know a lot of people are kind of scared to go on the bike path.”
For at least the past month and a half, the Tucson Police Department saID they’ve had small deployments looking for crimes, including where Kix was stabbed on the Chuck Huckelberry Loop.
In the past week and a half, LIieutenant Rudy Dominguez with TPD’s Division West, said he and TPD have been offering resources to homeless people and warning them about clean ups.
“It’s not just a Tucson Police issue, it’s a City of Tucson issue. We don’t have all the answers all the time so we may need to bring in outside agencies,” Dominguez said.
Before the past month and a half, he said they’ve been patrolling the Loop in smaller deployments, checking in with businesses and people living around there, and meeting with the City about safety.
“They may have the better answers on how to deal with people other than just arresting them and physically booking them,” Dominguez said.
On Tuesday he said TPD arrested over fifty homeless people in a bigger deployment between Oracle and First. He said they were arrested for littering, possession of narcotics, possession of paraphernalia, criminal trespass, and prohibited possession. Some of them, he said, were booked and given resources through the jail’s transition center.
“We understand that there’s a more systemic issue at hand and arresting people is not the end all be all,” Dominguez said.
Dominguez said he’s not sure if TPD patrols the Loop at night, but said they’re going to try and adjust their hours.
“Hopefully we could see more of a change,” Urias said.
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Andrew Christiansen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Before joining the team, Andrew reported in Corpus Christi, Texas for KRIS6 News, Action 10 News and guest reported in Spanish for Telemundo Corpus Christi. Share your story ideas with Andrew by emailing andrew.christiansen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, or Twitter.
