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GARY ALLEN, Special to the Observer
Scott and Tina Gardner's Subaru was hit in Brunswick County by a pickup truck driven by Ramiro Gallegos. Scott Gardner was killed. Tina Gardner remains hospitalized.
OBSERVER EXCLUSIVE
DWI record worse than known
Oversights left man on road, in U.S. despite 5 charges
Posted on Sun, Jul. 31, 2005
LIZ CHANDLER, AMES ALEXANDER DÃ?NICA COTO
Staff Writers
An illegal Mexican immigrant in North Carolina was charged with drunken driving at least five times before a July 16 wreck that killed a Gaston County teacher.
Ramiro Gallegos' driving record is far worse than authorities realized -- five impaired driving charges in five years, including one previous head-on collision.
On Friday, N.C. authorities remained unaware of two out-of-state convictions until informed by an Observer reporter.
Gallegos' history reveals glaring failures in communication, record keeping and enforcement among police, courts and immigration officials.
If the system had worked, Gallegos would likely have been sent back to Mexico in 2002, or jailed for up to two years and given intensive alcohol treatment. Each intervention would have decreased chances that Gallegos would have been on the road -- allegedly drunk again -- as teacher Scott Gardner and his family drove toward Sunset Beach.
"He was just as dangerous as a serial killer ...," says Scott's father, Phil. "What worries me is how many more are out there like him."
Scott's wife, Tina, is in critical condition. The couple's two children survived the crash and are staying with grandparents.
Gallegos, 25, is in the Brunswick County jail charged with murder and DWI. Prosecutors on Monday plan to add habitual drunken driving charges -- a felony he was eligible for more than a year ago.
"Good grief. This is unreal," said U.S. Rep. Sue Myrick of Charlotte, who fired off an angry letter to immigration officials after the wreck. "There has got to be a better reporting system. ... This provides a call to action."
Gallegos' friends and family warned him disaster was coming. Strangers called police when he was on the road.
In a previous wreck, in 2002, Gallegos crashed into an SUV in North Myrtle Beach. Another time, he was so drunk he backed into the patrol car that stopped him for driving 25 mph on a 70 mph stretch of Interstate 40.
Authorities had multiple chances to stop the escalating problem with Gallegos.
But Carolinas judges were unaware of out-of-state convictions so they handed out lighter punishment than they would have if they'd known.
Comprehensive driving records aren't collected in a national database. But the information was available if police, prosecutors or courts had phoned other places where they knew Gallegos had lived.
Gallegos had a Michigan driver's license -- and that state had his record of multiple convictions nationwide. But N.C. court officials say they're so underfunded and overwhelmed with cases that phoning other states for driver histories isn't a priority.
Lack of cooperation between police and immigration officials was another obvious problem in Gallegos' case.
Gallegos was eligible for deportation each time he was arrested. He was entered in computers as an illegal alien in 2000. But immigration officials say they received no requests for information about Gallegos.
Many police departments only delve into immigration status if suspects are involved in felonies. Drunken driving is a misdemeanor -- a lower priority for immigration officers.
"Unless you have a busload or a boatload of immigrants, (officials) are not going to come out," says North Myrtle Beach police Sgt. Sean Downey, who investigated Gallegos' 2002 wreck.
Immigration officials say they count on local police: "We understand the frustration, but ... it is a shared effort," spokesman Salvador Zamora says. "We expect local law enforcement to call and run checks anytime they have questions about somebody's status."
Gallegos grew up in a small Mexican farm town and crossed the border into Arizona in 1998, immigration officials said.
He went to Michigan and obtained a driver's license June 30, 2000.
Fifteen days later, he was charged with drunken driving in Monroe, Mich.
A woman flagged police, reporting that a van had almost hit her head-on, a police report said. Officers followed and saw the van veer into oncoming traffic.
Local authorities alerted immigration, which sent Gallegos back to Mexico, a spokesman said.
Six months later, in January 2001, the U.S. border patrol caught Gallegos in New Mexico -- and sent him home again.
But Gallegos was back in Michigan by March 2001. That's when he pleaded guilty to his drunken driving charge.
Then, he moved to North Carolina to work as a roofer.
In February 2002, police in the Eastern North Carolina town of Shallotte pulled Gallegos for speeding 88 mph in a 55 mph zone. Tests found his alcohol level was 0.16 -- twice the legal limit.
That DWI charge was pending three weeks later when Gallegos was nabbed again.
This time he was cruising North Myrtle Beach with a friend after midnight. Several drivers called 911 when they spotted Gallegos driving on the wrong side of N.C. U.S. 17. He crashed into an SUV driven by an Ohio man, a police report said. Officers found two 12-packs of Bud Lite in his Chevy, including open bottles.
Both cars were destroyed, but the occupants survived. Gallegos pleaded guilty. His sentence: 20 days in jail.
That summer, 2002, Gallegos skipped his court date on the Shallotte drunken driving case. No arrest warrant was issued, so the case was left hanging.
Without a conviction, Gallegos' N.C. driving record appeared clean. And N.C. officials remained unaware of his convictions in Michigan and Myrtle Beach.
About 27 percent of drunken driving charges against Hispanics are dismissed in North Carolina because the suspects don't show up for court, an Observer study found. That's more than four times higher than in cases involving black and white defendants.
Prosecutors can re-open those cases if suspects are found. But a series of failures by Brunswick and Duplin court officials meant the Shallotte case was never reopened -- even though officers would arrest Gallegos twice more.
Gallegos was busted in late 2002. He was driving too slowly on the interstate in Duplin County. He was so drunk, police said, he backed his car into the patrol car and was unable to perform sobriety tests.
Gallegos pleaded guilty in February 2003. On a worksheet to calculate punishment, the judge left blank the box for prior convictions. He gave Gallegos seven days in jail and supervised probation.
"God almighty," says Duplin prosecutor Dewey Hudson. "If we'd known about (other convictions), the court would have treated him a lot more seriously."
This was the earliest moment that might have brought severe punishment for Gallegos. Had he been convicted in the unresolved Shallotte case, the Duplin case would have been Gallegos' fourth conviction -- which qualifies in North Carolina for a felony charge of habitual drunken driving.
In January 2004, police spotted Gallegos cross the centerline near his home in Supply, south of Wilmington. His alcohol level measured 0.24 -- three times the legal limit. Officers charged him with resisting arrest, failing to stop for blue lights and siren, and damaging a patrol car -- plus DWI.
His sentence: 30 days in jail and supervised probation.
For the first time, though, the judge demanded a medical assessment for alcohol abuse. Gallegos attended 90 hours of classes. But the lessons didn't stick.
On July 16, Gallegos started drinking early, a friend told the Observer.
He went out to lunch. And drank more.
He drove home. And drank more.
He drove to the store, and bought a six pack with three friends.
Then, they piled into the cab of a pickup and headed in the direction of the Gardner family.
After the wreck, Gallegos almost evaded authorities. He ran from the scene, through fields and woods, until he and a friend emerged on a secondary road not far away. But police were there.
His alcohol level was 0.22.
From jail, Gallegos phoned his sister.
"Why did you do that?" Virginia Gallegos recalls asking him. "He didn't think of himself or anyone else. ... I feel so bad for the family, really sad."
Update on Crash Survivor
Tina Gardner remained in critical but stable condition at New Hanover Regional Medical Center as of Saturday night, hospital officials said. She has spent two weeks at that hospital.
How Story Was Done
This story is based on police reports and interviews with state troopers, witnesses and the friends and family of Scott and Tina Gardner and Ramiro Gallegos.
I will add this to the homepage Monday morning. This just makes me sick, but at the same time this reinforces what I'm fighting for.
This article should have added on the part about all of the illegal aliens that walk right out of US jails back on to US streets to victimize more US citizens without being deported. I just caught this on www.charlotte.com and was going to post it. Thanks for getting it up early Mopeadblue.
Our prayers should go out to the family.
W _________________ Vox populi vox Dei
Ad majorem Dei gloriam
Joined: May 03, 2005 Posts: 16130 Location: California or ground zero of the invasion
Posted: Mon Aug 01, 2005 1:44 am Post subject:
These kind of stories are always disgusting to hear and the hardest to read without getting angry over. I'm sick and tired of the open border groups who always whine about the illegal immigrants who die out in the desert by their own free will when attempting a suicidal journey because they chose to do so, but the open border groups then try and make us responsible for their deaths. I'm saddened and sorry these people died, but they took a risk and lost.
However these same groups never mention, or acknowledge all the innocent people who died in this country at the hands of an illegal who never should have been here in the first place. Our victim's didn't have a choice on their own fate like yours did. Illegal immigrants break every law imaginable in our country, and there is total silence from these groups whenever a U.S. citizen is hurt or killed by one. _________________ Need Law Enforcement Information? Click here for the Alipac Action Panel
Joined: Mar 06, 2005 Posts: 3040 Location: Occupied Territories, Alta Mexico
Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 10:40 pm Post subject:
Quote:
About 27 percent of drunken driving charges against Hispanics are dismissed in North Carolina because the suspects don't show up for court, an Observer study found. That's more than four times higher than in cases involving black and white defendants.
I don't know if anything is going to wake this country up to what's happening across the nation.
Three weeks ago an aquaintance of mine died after being hit by a car driven by a teenage illegal, who did a hit and run.
He's been identified, but who knows if he'll just skip out and head back across the border. _________________ It's like hell vomited and the Bush administration appeared.
Some days it seems hopeless, doesn't it, and THEN you see the Canadians Turning Hard on Immigration and the MinuteMen coming up with the BEST PROMOTIONAL IDEA TO WAKE UP AMERICA....Music, the Universal Language!!
Americans are a fiesty fearful foe, Count...when days seem dark and hopeless, just remember Americans NEVER QUIT once we're onto a MISSION.
We've gotten a very late start, there is no doubt, but we are started, we're fueled, and this fire is gonna burn until this MISSION is complete and all this RIFF RAFF that ended up in our Government is swept out like the TRAITOR TRASH they've proved themselves to be.
_________________ "A Nation Without Borders Is Not A Nation." Ronald Reagan "SAVE AMERICA, DEPORT CONGRESS." Judy
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