Thread: Police: Driver who fatally struck San Jose girl is unlicense

Searched for "Slaughter-Eck" - didn't get a single hit.

Even then, if a dupe, please delete immediately. Tell me where the orig. is so I can switch there...

From the SJMercury:

http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9576185

...as is typical...it seems as the paper may be bending over backwards to hide the "true" status of the driver...

Woops...article...


Police: Driver who fatally struck San Jose girl is unlicensed
By Mark Gomez
Mercury News
Article Launched: 06/13/2008 10:09:18 AM PDT


Police confirmed today that the woman who struck and killed San Jose middle-school student Breanna Slaughter-Eck, who was riding her bicycle home on the last day of school, does not have a driver's license.
The 31-year-old driver, Adriana Fierro De Marin, did not have a driver's license, nor was one ever issued in the state of California, according to police Sgt. Mike Sullivan.

The determination on whether to file criminal charges against Fierra De Marin - who was not arrested or issued a citation Thursday after the accident - will be made by the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office once police wrap up their investigation. That process could take up to six months, Sullivan said.

The district attorney's office said it can't speculate about charging options on a case it has not yet received, spokeswoman Amy Cornell said. Driving without a license in California is a misdemeanor, Sullivan said. No citations were issued in this case.

The preliminary police investigation suggests that Breanna, a Hoover Middle School sixth-grader, was not wearing a helmet at the time of the accident, Sullivan said.

Just after noon, Fierro De Marin was driving north on Park Avenue to pick up her own daughter at Hoover when she made a left turn onto Selborn Place. Breanna, who had been riding southbound on the Park Avenue sidewalk, was crossing the street at Selborn on her Schwinn mountain bike when she was struck. Breanna was dragged a short distance.

She was taken to Valley Medical Center, where she died.
Police said there were no indications of drugs or alcohol.


Contact Mark Gomez at mgomez@mercurynews.com or (40 920-5869.

Unlicensed-- and without insurance?

Is San Jose a sanctuary city so they don't check immigration status?

The determination on whether to file criminal charges against Fierra De Marin - who was not arrested or issued a citation Thursday after the accident - will be made by the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office once police wrap up their investigation. That process could take up to six months, Sullivan said




I can assure the state of CA that the process for an IA to pack up and flee takes a lot less than 6 months.

Let's just hope the family of this child receives justice.

Moving to Other Topics.

Driver in bike-riding girl's death is illegal immigrant, police say
http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewshea ... ck_check=1

Moving to News from Other Topics.

They just let her go. Like she might have run over a squirrel or something. The family should immediately retain a lawyer and sue the local police dept.

New Link:
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_9645252?s ... ost_viewed

Originally Posted by jimpasz

Driver in bike-riding girl's death is illegal immigrant, police say
http://www.mercurynews.com/localnewshea ... ck_check=1

Here is the story\


Driver in bike-riding girl's death is illegal immigrant, police say
By Sandra Gonzalesand Edwin Garcia
Mercury News
Article Launched: 06/19/2008 08:41:54 PM PDT

Not only was the driver of a Ford Bronco that fatally struck a 12-year-old girl unlicensed, but San Jose police say she is an illegal immigrant, too, renewing the debate on whether undocumented people should be allowed to apply for driver's licenses.

The revelation that Adriana Fierro De Marin, 31, was in the country illegally struck yet another cord with the family of Breanna Slaughter-Eck, still reeling from the loss of the Hoover Middle School sixth-grader.

"I'm worried that she just might flee now and walk away from all this," said Joe Castro, the man who raised Breanna for the last four years. For her part, Breanna's mother simply wants justice.

Breanna was biking home from Hoover on June 12, on her last day of school, when a Ford Bronco making a left turn slammed into her. The crash is still under investigation and no charges have been filed.

But Breanna's death and the disclosure by authorities that Fierro de Marin is an undocumented immigrant and unlicensed driver highlights one of the more controversial and lingering topics in the state Capitol.

There have been nine attempts since 1999 to allow undocumented immigrants to apply for driver's licenses. Each of the efforts has failed - opposed by Republicans who say it's inappropriate to provide state services and benefits to people in the country illegally.

State Sen. Gil Cedillo, D-Los Angeles, says safety is more important.

"We have every day, 2 1/2 million people
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taking the roads who, if given the opportunity, would apply for driver's licenses," said Cedillo, whose latest proposal passed the Senate and is back before the Assembly this summer. "We're endangering the lives of pedestrians and motorists in California every single day."

Lt. Carl Neusel, an assistant division commander for the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office, estimates about a third of the unlicensed drivers deputies encounter are undocumented. "It's a problem," he said.

More importantly, traffic experts say, the focus should be on all unlicensed drivers, illegal or not, because statistics link such drivers to more high-risk, hazardous behavior.

Statistics show that nationwide one of every five fatal crashes involves drivers without a valid license.

In California, nearly a quarter of all crashes from 2001 to 2005 involved drivers without a license, according to a study by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety.

xxxxx

"Are these people risky? Yes," said Robert Scopatz, who co-authored studies of unlicensed drivers for the auto club.

Scopatz said unlicensed drivers cut through all demographics and that unlicensed illegal immigrants are only a tiny portion of the problem. Simply put, Scopatz said, unlicensed drivers tend to have more societal issues, among them problems with alcohol or drugs that prevent them from getting a license.

"The biggest risk they pose to society is that their bad attitudes are reflected in their driving," he said.

In the San Jose area last year, the California Highway Patrol alone issued 3,886 citations to drivers without a license. Statewide, CHP issued 132,042 in 2007.

"Unfortunately, it's pretty common; we come across it more often than we should," said Sgt. Trent Cross, spokesman for the Bay Area's California Highway Patrol division. While having a license doesn't guarantee safety, it helps, Cross said.

"It shows that you went to the DMV and passed the test and it shows you have a basic understanding of how to operate a motor vehicle."

Driving without a license in California is a misdemeanor, but the penalties could be greater if it involves an injury or fatality. The decision whether to file criminal charges against Fierro De Marin will be made by the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office.

xxxx

Local authorities aren't responsible for enforcing immigration laws, and police in many cities, including San Jose, have standing policies that limit officers from notifying immigration authorities about a suspect's status unless felony charges are involved.

However, before a suspect is booked into jail, they are asked a series of questions - whether they are U.S. citizens, their place of birth and their immigration status. The answers can alert federal agents whether the inmate is in the country illegally.

In Fierro De Marin's case, police initially arrested her on suspicion of felony vehicular manslaughter and misdemeanor driving without a license, but released her to spend more time developing the case, said San Jose police spokesman Enrique Garcia.

Since felony accusations were involved, police alerted immigration officials about her status, Garcia said.

Efforts to reach Fierro De Marin on Thursday were unsuccessful, but last week she told the Mercury News she was driving to pick up her own daughter from the same school when the crash happened. "I feel so bad. I'm so, so sorry," said Fierro De Marin, whose family moved here from Mexico 20 years ago. "It's as if it happened to me."

Meanwhile, Cedillo said Breanna's death should serve as a reminder that many undocumented immigrants are driving California's streets and highways without proper training.

Once again, Republicans oppose Cedillo's bill, SB 60.

"There are arguably good reasons why we want to know who is here - and identification is not a bad idea - but what we do is we send a wrong message to law-abiding Californians that we have to follow the law but everyone else doesn't," said Assemblyman Anthony Adams, R-Monrovia. "That's the fundamental problem."

Contact Sandra Gonzales at sgonzales@mercurynews.com or (40 920-5778.

I am shocked how she was able to get out of jail. Not surprised that an illegal was driving without a license. They will do the same thing with the Real ID, drive without one. They are already doing that around the country and in NC since our standards became stronger in 2004 before the Real ID was passed and again in 2006.