DUI illegal kills pedestrian week after given probation
Hit-and-run follows suspension of sentence for conviction in 2006 drunk-driving arrest

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Posted: April 28, 2007
6:30 p.m. Eastern



İ 2007 WorldNetDaily.com



Luciano Melendres
If Luciano Melendres had been deported to Mexico following his 2006 arrest for driving drunk – or even if a judge last week hadn't suspended his six-month jail sentence and given him 12 months probation – Dacus Lamont Sims, 32, would be alive today.

As it is, Melendres is back in jail for a second offense, this time charged with DWI, felony hit-and-run, driving with a license revoked, not having insurance and a registration violation, the Charlotte, North Carolina, Observer reported.

Sims, who was hit while crossing a Charlotte street earlier this week, died at the scene.

Melendres continued to a friend's home and was found because a driver who saw the accident followed his car and contacted police. The illegal alien, who has lived and worked in North Carolina for at least 13 months, denied involvement when questioned by officers.




"Why do they let this man constantly drive?" asked Joset Sims, the victim's sister. "If this gentleman is an illegal immigrant, and he was charged with DWI, why did they not deport him?"

When Melendres was arrested for the first offense in March 2006, the Mecklenburg County Sheriff's Office had not yet instituted detainee screening to determine whether prisoners were in the U.S. illegally, resulting in his release. It is unclear whether the court was aware of his status as an illegal alien when it suspended his jail sentence last week and released him on probation.

The sheriff's new screening program identified more than 900 illegal immigrants passing through the jail between April and November last year. DWIs – the most common count – accounted for 190 of the arrests. Traffic violations, in second place, totaled 176 counts.



As WND has reported, the mayhem on America's highways isn't limited to illegals who drive only while intoxicated.

Little caution, critics say, is being exercised when it comes to preventing mayhem on America's highways as the country witnesses record high numbers of unlicensed, unregistered, uninsured drivers – millions of whom are illegal aliens.

While no one – in or out of government – tracks traffic accidents caused by illegal aliens, the statistical and anecdotal evidence suggests many of last year's 42,636 road deaths involved illegal aliens.

A report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Study found 20 percent of fatal accidents involve at least one driver who lacks a valid license. In California, another study showed that those who have never held a valid license are about five times more likely to be involved in a fatal road accident than licensed drivers.

Statistically, that makes them an even greater danger on the road than drivers whose licenses have been suspended or revoked – and nearly as dangerous as drunk drivers.

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How dare Bush go to the Miami University and tell those grads to call their Reps. for immigration reform! He won't listen to us, but he wants to hear from them!