http://wral.com/news/local/story/2760050/

Illegal Immigrants Charged in DWI Cases Test Judicial System
Marcus Lassiter

Posted: Today at 8:49 p.m.
Updated: Today at 10:01 p.m.

Smithfield, N.C. — Seven-year-old Marcus Lassiter won’t see his eighth birthday. George Smith was on his morning commute to Duke University but never made it to work. Betty Coates might struggle with daily tasks for the rest of her life.

Johnston County Sheriff Steve Bizzell sees a pattern among the cases of these victims of drunken driving: Each accused driver was in the United States illegally.

Bizzell pointed to Hipolito Hernandez, an illegal immigrant who faces second-degree murder charges in the hit-and-run that killed Marcus last Sunday.

“This case here is a prime example of the justice system letting the people down,” Bizzell said.

Nearly 300 illegal immigrants were convicted on driving-while-impaired charges and placed in North Carolina prisons in 2007.

Hispanics also account for 18 percent of drunken-driving arrests, while making up less than 7 percent of the state’s population, according to a study from the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center aired in WRAL’s documentary “Focal Point: Crossing the Line.”

The study also showed that Hispanics involved in car crashes were 2.5 times more likely to be drunk than white drivers and three times more likely to be drunk than black drivers.

In the three cases listed above, each of the accused drunken drivers had extensive contact with the judicial system – but had managed to elude the immigration system until these incidents.

Hernandez, who originally gave an alias to police who arrested him Monday, had been charged with DWI four times. Those cases were either pending, dismissed on technicalities or reduced.

WRAL uncovered no evidence that immigration authorities ever detained Hernandez during those times in court.

“He (Hernandez) shouldn’t be here to start with. But he is,” Bizzell said. “He’s violating the law. He’s driving drunk. He’s killing kids.” Hernandez stands accused of murder in the case but has not been convicted of any charges.

Eblin Fabiel Ocampo Cruz, 22, was convicted in the wreck on Interstate 540 that injured Betty Coates on Oct. 25, 2007. An illegal immigrant, Cruz was charged with a DWI in 2006 and had been in court six times that year.

Ricardo Contreras-de la Torre had been deported from the U.S. twice before he plead guilty to DWI in the motor-vehicle death of 54-year-old George Alwyn Smith on June 4, 2007.

A new law, though, has begun changing the judicial process for those suspected of being illegal immigrants. When suspects are fingerprinted and processed in jail, their information is often cross-referenced with immigration records.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has placed a detainer on Hernandez. Cruz and Contreras-de la Torre will be deported when they finish their prison sentences – both set to no more than three years, thanks to plea deals.

Latino advocacy groups often urge the public to step back from the emotion over immigration and focus on the individual crimes.

Advocates admit that drunk driving is a problem within the Hispanic community and have aired public-service ads to combat the problem.

Drunk driving is also the No. 1 killer of young Hispanic men, according to the UNC study.

Bizzell said the tragedy is that deaths such as Marcus’ and debilitating injuries such as Coates’ are preventable.

“This isn’t about race. This isn’t about Mexico versus the United States,” Bizzell said. “It’s about a drunk Mexican that’s illegal, driving drunk, no operator’s license, stolen vehicle, killing a little 7-year-old boy.”

If you consider what I said in my comment insulting, you’ve got an extremely THIN skin. I disagreed with the premise in your comment…it was hardly personal!

LA County Sheriff Lee Baca, on April 4th, told a largely African-American audience in Compton that when Latino gangs are at war with black gangs over drugs and turf they are sometimes satisfied to kill any young black living in their rivals territory in order to flex their criminal muscle. In other words, Baca asserted innocents are being targeted for death by gangs just because of their race. Sounds like a hate-crime to most of us.

Fox 11 News obtained a videotape of the remarks Baca made to the National Association for Equal Justice in America; those remarks, taped by Lonzo Williams, a cable TV talk-show host, were included in a Fox 11 story that aired Friday (April 10) as part of our continuing coverage of the murder of Jamiel Shaw, a promising LA High School football player, allegedly killed by an 18th Street gang member on March 2.

Shaw lived in a neighborhood identified as the turf of the Black P-Stones (BPS), an African-American gang that has had a long, deadly feud with the predominantly Latino 18th Street gang. But Shaw was not a member of BPS, and the evening he was murdered Shaw was not wearing attire that might have caused him to be mistakenly identified as a gang member. Immigration and police officials say Shaws accused murderer, Pedro Espinoza, 19, is an illegal alien who has been an 18th Street gang member since he was 12 years old.

Here is exactly what Baca told the African-American audience in Compton: I dont say its all but there is a percent of these Latino kids killing blacks because of a race-related motivation. That is my opinion.

Pretty explosive stuff. And then Baca went a step further, claiming his deputies had overheard jailed Latino gang bosses (so-called shot-callers) telling their followers on the outside that, in a feud with a black gang, it was okay to kill any blacks to make their point. Weve heard when the person out there cant find African-American gang member to shoot, the shot-caller says: Then shoot any African-American you see. (Jamiel Shaws father was in the audience that day and Baca looked him straight in the eye when he made these remarks; but the sheriff did NOT specifically say if he believed Shaws murder was racially-motivated).

You did lie about what I said and everyone knows it now.

So I guess you come from the perspective that every rule is made to be broken. Does anarchy appeal to you?

Four Oaks, N.C. — A family of a 7-year-old boy, killed by a driver accused of being drunk at the wheel, is struggling to make sense of his death.

State troopers said Marcus Lassiter was trying to cross Heath Road, near his grandmother’s house, when a car struck him Sunday evening.

A helicopter rushed him to Duke University Hospital in Durham.

“I was trying to stay optimistic for the most part. I just didn’t want, I just didn’t want to have to go through the pain I’m going through now,” brother Kenny Sanders said.

Doctors declared Marcus brain dead and he was taken off life support Monday evening.

“He was happy, always happy. You’ve never seen him down, never seen him sad. Every time I saw him, he brought a smile to my face,” Sanders said.

The driver, whom police know as Pollo Hernandez Rodriquez, was arrested after he tried to flee the scene, the state Highway Patrol said.

Rodriquez faces charges of felony hit and run, driving while impaired, driving without a license, driving a stolen car and causing serious injury with a motor vehicle.

The Highway Patrol said Tuesday they believe Rodriquez did not give them his real name. Troopers are trying to determine his identity to run a criminal background check. That will help determine what additional charges are appropriate, they said.

Sanders said he wants justice for his brother, but that for now, he is focusing on his family.

“We lost somebody very near and dear to us, so to think of, to waste emotions on [Rodriquez] would be, you know, it would just be a waste,” he said.

Rodriquez remained in jail Tuesday evening, held on a $1 million bond.

The Lassiter family told WRAL they plan to attend every Rodriquez court appearance.

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What about ALL the tragic events commited by Citizens who are repeat offenders that have resulted in many many tragic deaths? That too should of never ever happened……

I’ve heard that argument you are making before, Just Cause, and it’s just as flawed now as it was then. In a very real way you make our point: We have enough home-grown miscreants to deal with, we really don’t need to import more. Immigration regulations requiring background checks, health exams, etc. are in place for a purpose…so that we hopefully don’t find ourselves importing more problems before we bring what we already have under control. I believe that 99% of the folks around here are all FOR legal immigration…it’s the illegal alien with which they have a REAL problem.

No, you are the one who twists things to fit your way of thinking. I stated facts. You have already proved my point by lying about what I actually said.

I feel sorry for you.

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Nope I’m not Ms Barg nor any of the other people…I heard of this blog from the Haymarket website and was reading it for strict entertainment and decided to throw my 2 cents in there…

It seems you are using the tragedies of others that were comitted by illegals to justify your argument. Well what about all the other families that have tragedy that was caused by our citizens? Are they considered less tragic because the crime was not commited by illegals?

MANASSAS, Va. - More than 60 suspected illegal immigrants detained at the Prince William County jail have been picked up by federal immigration authorities since Friday.

The transfers come after complaints by jail officials that federal agents were taking weeks to pick up the immigrants, rather than 72 hours under an agreement that went into effect in July.

Officials said crowding at the jail had hit and all-time high because of the delays, and that the jail was spending $220,000 a month to house inmates elsewhere in the state.

Congressman Frank Wolf wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff last week, asking that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement speed the transfers.

Hello Virginia I just came accross this. Good news. Thanks ICE

.

You know I did not say that. Well I guess lying comes easy to you. Are you Eric Byler, Annabelle, John Steinbach, Nancy Lyall, Alanna Almeda (probably), Katherine Gotthardt or Ms. Hilda (”bring it on”) Barg.

Illegal aliens break our laws to get into the country. They don’t keep our laws once they are here. The majority of murders committed in Prince William County were committed by illegal aliens. That is a FACT!!!

We have enough evil. We don’t need to import more.

Do you understand now? Or do I need to write it in more simple sentences for you to understand?

Well while we are deporting ALL the evil immigrants, Can you please make sure they take the Susan Smiths, John Gacys, Dennis Raders,John Coueys, Diane Downs and the Charlie Mansons of our Society with them? Tell THEIR families what you think about deporting ALLLL the evil immigrants..