LOS ANGELES _ The Delano Police Department has forwarded a report to the Kern County district attorney's office asking prosecutors to review whether federal immigration agents gave false information to police investigating a traffic crash that killed a couple who were in the country illegally.
Santos Hilario Garcia and Marcelina Garcia Profecto were killed while fleeing from Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on March 13. The couple had initially stopped, but then fled before colliding with a utility pole at high speed.
According to a collision report, an ICE deportation officer told police that, after the initial stop, he was not in "pursuit with emergency lights/sirens." But surveillance video showed the immigration officers' cars traveling in the same direction as the couple's vehicle with their emergency lights activated.
"Based on the discrepancy the report was forwarded to the Kern County District Attorney's Office for review since they have jurisdiction," Delano's interim police chief, Raul Alvizo, said in a statement. "The charges requested are according to California Vehicle Code Section 31, 'No person shall give, either orally or in writing, information to a peace officer while in the performance of his duties under the provision of this code when such person knows that the information is false.'"
The complaint, received Wednesday morning, is pending review, according to the district attorney's office. ICE did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
ICE deportation officer Ramiro Sanchez told police that on the morning of the crash, he and colleagues were conducting surveillance on an apartment in order to detain Celestino Hilario Garcia, who was targeted for "removal" from the country.
Sanchez stated that a colleague witnessed Santos Hilario Garcia, whom they mistook for Celestino Hilario Garcia, enter a vehicle in front of the apartment, along with a woman and a girl.
Sanchez and another deportation officer, Dimas Benitez, followed the car in black, unmarked Jeeps as the couple dropped their daughter off at school. Shortly afterward, Sanchez activated his emergency lights to signal the car to pull over.
Santos Hilario Garcia complied, but as Sanchez got out of his car the couple's vehicle sped away, the report said. Sanchez told police that his car followed, but that he was not in "pursuit with emergency lights/sirens."
However, surveillance video from the period after the traffic stop and before the crash showed that the two cars driven by ICE agents had their emergency lights activated.
The statements provided by the deportation officers, "contradict with the surveillance review conducted," the department stated in its report.
Three witnesses to the crash said the couple's car was not being followed or chased and that no police were present, according to the police report.
Delano police were dispatched to the crash scene shortly before 7 a.m. Officers found a blue Ford Explorer Sport Trac overturned with the couple inside. They died at the scene.
"Per routine protocol, at the time of the incident, the facts surrounding the encounter were referred for review and that review is ongoing," ICE spokesman Richard Rocha said in a statement Monday. "While this was an isolated and extremely unfortunate incident, ICE wants to encourage all individuals we encounter to fully cooperate with our law enforcement officers."
The statement cited "sanctuary" policies that "have pushed ICE out of jails" and "force our officers to conduct more enforcement in the community _ which poses increased risks for law enforcement and the public."
"It also increases the likelihood that ICE will encounter other illegal aliens who previously weren't on our radar," Rocha said.
Santos Hilario Garcia had been convicted in 2014 of driving under the influence and was voluntarily returned to Mexico three times between 2008 and 2017. Profecto had no prior encounters with ICE.
Though Garcia matched the description of the arrest target, he was not the same individual, according to ICE.
Delano Mayor Grace Vallejo said she would "wait and see what the district attorney is going to do" before deciding on a response.
"As far as to the community, I hope they understand that we honor the state of California's sanctuary cities law," Vallejo said. "We follow it and it is unjust that people are put in fear at a time when they're trying to support their families and in this particular situation, it created something that should not have happened and that was due to the fear of ICE and deportation."
