Another victim of deportation failures
A Tennessee State University student died Saturday when another driver broadsided her vehicle on Old Hickory Boulevard.
Metro police said 24-year-old Victor Benitez was drunk as he ran a red light at the intersection of Old Hickory Boulevard and Nolensville Road, killing 22-year-old Joycelyn Gardiner.
“Just a tremendous young lady, from all accounts, who had all types of potential,” said Don Aaron, Metro police spokesman.
“According to the witnesses who attempted to render aid to both victims, Benitez smelled strongly of alcohol and was very combative,” Aaron said.
Investigators said Benitez was drunk and did not touch the brakes of his Ford Expedition before hitting Gardiner’s car. She died a short time later at the hospital.
Benitez had come “out of the shadows” to commit other crimes, but it appears no one bothered to check his immigration status or do anything about it:
Police said Benitez was driving without a license and that he didn’t have paperwork verifying that he was in the United States legally.
“They learned that he is a suspected illegal immigrant, thus, a federal hold was placed on him so he cannot make bond,” Aaron said.
In February 2006, Benitez was convicted of car burglary. Nine months later, he spent seven days in jail for public intoxication and resisting arrest. The Mexican native now faces a vehicular homicide charge.
Via Nashville’s NewsChannel 5, here is Gardiner’s car after the wreck:
And here is the callous perpetrator:
More details on his criminal history:
Benitez received a head laceration and a broken rib, injuries he was treated for at Vanderbilt before being released into the custody of the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office.
He was later identified as an illegal immigrant from Mexico and ordered held without bond…
…No information on Benitez’s blood alcohol content was immediately available, and police described him as an “alleged drunk driver” even though his only current charge is vehicular homicide.
At the same time, police were quick to point out that Benitez, whose physical identification was issued in Texas, was on two separate occasions convicted of a total of four criminal charges in Nashville.
He was arrested in February 2006 on three counts of car burglary and two counts of attempted theft. Two months later he was convicted of one count of car burglary and sentenced by General Sessions Judge Casey Moreland to one year of supervised probation.
On Nov. 5, 2006, Benitez was rearrested on charges of public intoxication, disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. The following day he was convicted of all three charges and sentenced by General Sessions Judge William Higgins to seven days in jail.
In April, the Davidson County Sheriff’s Office officially launched what they called a public safety program to run instant immigration checks on every foreign-born person booked into the Metro jail, regardless of the arresting charge.
The program was sought in response to multiple fatal DUI crashes committed by illegal aliens, many of who had been previously arrested and convicted in Nashville but not identified as illegal.
You’ll recall that Heather Steffek of Nashville lost her parents to an illegal alien drunk driver and launched a campaign against deportation failures. Sovereign nation or sanctuary nation? You can do something about it.
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- Random-American - News, Comments, and the Rantings of an Ordinary Citizen » Police say TSU senior athlete killed by illegal immigrant driving drunk
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Categories: Amnesty, Deportation Abyss, Drivers' Licenses, Sanctuary Cities
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and these are the kinds of people bush’s amnesty bill would legalize????
what i’d like to see is both of our borders completely shut down and every single illegal alien systematically rounded up and deported. but i’m afraid hell will freeze over before that’ll happen.
In cases like this I wonder if it is possible to sue the Government for failing to enforce the laws that led to these tragedies. It might be the only way to open their eyes.
Well all we can do is at least try. I’d love to see an attorney take this on.
I read this story when Michelle first posted it. Here is a young women, ready to graduate college and begin her life, and she is killed by a drunk driver. Between Michelle and O’Reilly’s show, it is shocking the amount of vehicular deaths that illegals aliens have caused over the past couple of months (and longer). This goes on all the time, and it is completely needless. I don’t know if the federal gov’t can be sued in this case (at least successfully), but it is the federal gov’t that failed this young lady and all of us.
Someone, a decent lawyer perhaps, should step up and sue a city in one of these horrific and deadly DUI/drunken illegal alien cases.
Bring suit against the SANCTUARY City, like Houston or Denver, for not allowing the law to protect the citizens of their town/state and our country.
We have laws in place. What say we use the darn things?
These deaths are completely preventable when you have an illegal with repetitive contact with law enforcement. It goes way beyond negligence, it is criminally negligent, possibly w/malice. (see trent lott).
I cant imagine how the family of the deceased victim feels.
I agree with Shooter. These people disrespect the very country they live in. They disrespect our laws, our country, and legal, law abiding, “American” citizens, and residents!!
I’m not talking about the illegals! (although, they do that too) I’m talking about these foul smelling, leftwing radicals in government, who are behind all this sanctuary crap!!!
They think they are beyond the pale, and immune to the consequences of their actions. Start suing their pompous, pinko butts!!!!
ASIDE BUT RELATED: news today has a rape charge in the case of a 7 yr old girl’s rape, being dropped because the court in question COULD NOT FIND A TRANSLATOR.
Do you think the court is trying to encourage the civilian population to start shooting first and asking questions later? HOW could a court NOT FIND A “NECESSARY” TRANSLATOR? THERE ARE EVEN MACHINES THAT DO THAT JOB, NOW!
Hopefully this judge will not have a job by the end of the week.
On June 21st, 2007 at 10:38 pm, RenaOConnor said:
Well all we can do is at least try. I’d love to see an attorney take this on.
ACLJ likes to keep a list of organizations and lawyers that are always ready to fight the ACLU - that list ought to yield some action, if any of the interested parties would take a look there. This ain’t like 30 years ago, some of these guys have decided to fight for AMERICA. Since our govt has decided NOT to.