Now Is a Time for Mending

The damage done when a Poway teen-ager reported a rape that may have never occurred will be difficult to repair. The accusation kept six people in jail for two months and fueled community fear of illegal aliens.

The girl’s family took the first step toward healing the wounds when it came forward with information that resulted in the charges being dropped and the case being closed.

Now the damage done to the community and to attitudes toward Latinos must be mended. Like a jury that has been instructed to ignore testimony, North County residents and officials must act as if the whole episode never happened. That will be difficult.

Many North County residents were already fearful of illegal aliens before the incident. The report that a 15-year-old girl had been forced from her horse by a group of illegal aliens and raped heightened that fear. Law enforcement’s response trod heavily on a delicate ethnic situation. About 85 Latinos were detained in a massive sweep conducted by 12 Border Patrol agents and 27 sheriff’s deputies, including 17 SWAT team members. Some bore little or no resemblance to the description given by the girl.

Rarely do rapes generate such a response, which was probably intensified by the fact that the girl was the daughter of a deputy sheriff and that the community had been putting pressure on local officials to clear out the migrants, who are blamed by many for an increase in crime.

The reaction to the sweep further polarized the community. Latinos and civil-rights activists rightly criticized the sweep, while the cry that something be done about the aliens grew more shrill. Threats of vigilante action surfaced, and some residents started taking steps to make life harder for the illegal aliens.

Now the district attorney has closed the case, based on information provided by the girl’s family that is “favorable to the defendants.”

The family’s privacy may be served by such a weak explanation. But the community deserves a fuller account. Without it, the community wounds left by the incident will be slow to heal.