Why This Stuff Matters...

A Tragic Alignment of Issues

Published on December 6, 2006 By Daiwa In Current Events

This is a true story. About illegal immigration. About a broken criminal justice system. About irrational judges. About how a single tragic event can encapsulate so much of what's not right with our "system."

Six days ago, a 15-year-old girl, walking in a marked school-zone crosswalk on her way to school, was struck by a car which ran through the crosswalk at speed, the impact flinging her some 150 feet in the air. Slowing only slightly, the driver managed to swerve to the left just in time to avoid running right over her and... kept going.

Both of the girls legs were shattered and one of her shoulders was severely injured. It's a miracle she survived; she may be able to walk again some day.

The car that hit her was found abandoned in a field the next day. The cops quickly found the owner, who after the accident had been pursuaded by the driver to report the vehicle as stolen. He apparently had second thoughts when the cops arrived and offered up the driver, a 52-year-old Hispanic male, who was promptly arrested and who admitted he was the driver who hit the girl. He had no driver's license and, of course, no insurance. He spoke no English. His residency/immmigration status is not known; the police didn't ask, but the jail staff did and he claimed to be a US citizen born in Mexico. A routine inquiry was sent to Immigration & Customs Enforcement, but a reply was not received before his court hearing, held the day after his arrest; it was conducted entirely in Spanish. Apparently, the vehicle's owner was charged with nothing.

The court ordered electronic monitoring (to be done only at night), set bail at zero, and released the driver. Yes, you read that correctly: zero. Meanwhile, his victim is still in the hospital.

We have laws against speeding in a school zone.
We have laws against failure to yield at a school crosswalk.
We have laws against driving at a speed unsafe and imprudent.
We have laws against driving without a license.
We have laws against driving without insurance.
We have laws against leaving the scene of an accident.
We have laws against filing a false police report.
We have laws against entering and residing illegally in this country.
There was ample evidence of the driver's propensity to flee to escape justice.
There was evidence that he had conspired with others to avoid responsibility for his actions.

And the court turned him loose, free as a bird, with no consequences whatsoever other than a promise to re-appear on his appointed day.

Furthermore, it took a week for this to become a "story" worthy of reporting. Even then, it was a page B12 opinion column.

And people wonder why some are sick of what passes for our "system of justice." Why anyone would be concerned about lenient judges. Why anyone cares about illegal immigration. This is why. This is the reality, where the rub is, behind all the philosophical BS thrown around by our media and politicians. It's real people suffering real pain, real harm, while those politicians and media pretend the consequences of our broken system are isolated, abstract and unrelated.

I've asked myself what would likely have happened had I been the driver of that vehicle. I'll leave it to you to ponder the same question.

Comments

bakerstreet

on Dec 07, 2006

Got a link? Given how often society women back over people, or how often pop princesses flee accidents, etc., I'm not seeing how this is necessarily an immigration issue. Hell, we make some people who swim out and head off to a party Senators.

So... I'm not following the illegal thing. If you asked me whether I felt safer on the road with 52 year old mexicans or the 17 year old mall rats I dodge daily, well...

Daiwa

on Dec 07, 2006

WWW Link The link is an abbreviated online version of the print column, I'm afraid.

That life is absurd, I will concede.

There is an interesting, and coincidentally sad, intersection of all these issues in this one event. The "entropy" of it was what struck me.

kingbee

on Dec 07, 2006

I've asked myself what would likely have happened had I been the driver of that vehicle. I'll leave it to you to ponder the same question.

well...

i'm fairly certain you're not gonna be 71 for a good long while and i like to think you're puttin your sweet lil solstice to good and constant use, so even if you also own an suv, it's big ol hulkin self is most frequently parked and immobile.

huntington beach residents--while more likely than not to be doin well for themselves--comprise a fairly diverse group; nothng's been revealed so far regarding splitter's citizenship status. dunno whether you have a cellphone or if you use it while driving.

difficult though it may be to sustain any sorta valid comparison with so many conflicting variables, i'm guessing there may also be similarities sufficient for an admittedly speculative response to your rhetorical question.

at least four pages into tuesday's (december 5) second section, the la times published this story by david reyes:

Boy's family sues over fatal O.C. crash link

The family of Juan Rojas, the 7-year-old killed at an Orange County bus stop last week when a driver allegedly lost control of his SUV while reaching for a cellphone, filed a wrongful-death lawsuit Monday against the motorist.

The family also filed a $15-million claim against the public agencies in charge of the design and placement of the bus stop. Claims are typically forerunners to lawsuits.

William Splitter, 71, of Huntington Beach drove in a "negligent and reckless" manner Wednesday, killing Juan and injuring his mother and two sisters, the lawsuit says.

Splitter could not be reached for comment.

Eugenia Rojas, 33, of Garden Grove was waiting for a bus with her three children near Garden Grove Boulevard and Edwards Street in Westminster when they were hit.

She and the girls were injured.

Rojas is in serious condition at UC Irvine Medical Center in Orange with a ruptured spleen, bruised lung, broken ribs and a broken pelvis, authorities said.

The boy's sister Jacqueline, 13, who had tried to lift the vehicle off her brother, has been released from a hospital. Vanessa, 10, was hurt slightly.

Manuel Rojas, who was working at the time of the accident, has said the death of his son and the injuries to his wife and daughters have been traumatic and that he wants criminal charges brought against Splitter.

Federico Sayre, the Santa Ana attorney representing the family, filed a claim against the county and the Orange County Transportation Authority for the allegedly negligent design and unsafe placement of the bus stop.

OCTA, which has not yet received a copy of the claim, believes the bus stop was safe and that its placement did not contribute to the accident, said Ted Nguyen, an OCTA spokesman.

Westminster police expect its investigation into the accident to be completed next week, a spokesman said.

Police said Splitter told them he was trying to make a right turn when he reached down for a cellphone and lost control of his car.

A state law making it illegal to use a hand-held cellphone while driving except in an emergency doesn't take effect until July 2008.

The investigation will be referred to the district attorney's office to determine whether charges should be filed.

although not expressly stated in this article, according to all the previous coverage of which i'm aware, splitter has yet to spend any time in custody. while driving and using a cellphone isn't presently a specific crime--so splitter may not have actually broken as many laws as your guy--how much comfort will that provide the dead kid's survivors?

kingbee

on Dec 07, 2006

There was ample evidence of the driver's propensity to flee to escape justice

his name wasn't 'splitter' was it?

Daiwa

on Dec 07, 2006

kb -

Your story is just as sad. I'm not all "eye-for-an-eye" rabid about this, but it is dismaying to say the least how ineffectual enforcement of our existing laws has become. If it isn't murder one, it's taken way too casually by our courts & this sort of thing happens way too often.

Good memory, BTW, and I'm lovin' the Sol, top down all the time now.

Bahu Virupaksha

on Dec 11, 2006

I read in an Asian newspaper that one of India's most successful film stars Salman Khan ran over 7 poor people sleeping on the pavement in an important city and during his court hearings all witnesses who had been bought by the immense wealth of this star changed their story and this criminal Salman Khan is walking free. I do hope the girl recovers and the driver is punished.

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