Thread: MI-Suspected illegal flees scene of serious accident

Suspected illegal immigrant flees scene of serious accident
Published: Wednesday, January 12, 2011

By LINDA GITTLEMAN

Gratiot Managing Editor

Faked documents, no driver’s license and slippery, icy roads crash landed what appears to be an illegal immigrant into the Gratiot County Jail Tuesday night.

It all began when a passerby who called 911 to report a serious accident on Ely Highway Tuesday night, told police he saw the driver of the sports utility vehicle that caused the accident flee the scene.

Someone else came by and picked him up, said Michigan State Police Trooper Mike Floriano who arrived at the scene.

The SUV remained.

Three people from the other vehicle were injured, one seriously. Once the three were shipped off to local hospitals, Floriano said a check of the SUV’s registration revealed a Begole Road address.

Floriano said he sent another trooper to the address and while he was in route, a call from that address to 911 said an ambulance was needed. What turned out to be the fleeing driver was injured.

An ambulance arrived, the driver was taken to the hospital, treated and released, and turned over to the police.

The driver, identified and charged as Noe De La Cruz, 19, of St. Louis, who is now in jail, may not be who he says he is.

“He had a document,â€

Again, as the law is in Arizona, he'd be held without bond. This law should be adopted everywhere.

What about presenting fraudulent identification?