ST. LOUIS – FOX 2 obtained booking video of the man accused of causing a crash that killed a St. Louis police officer.
The video is from a previous case four years ago—a domestic assault case in which the defendant was convicted. Police also warned U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the time of the defendant’s illegal immigration status, yet he continued avoiding deportation.
The booking video is from 2020 inside the St. Peters Police Department following the arrest of Ramon Chavez-Rodriguez. The defendant was 20 years old at the time.
Police were investigating a domestic violence case in which Chavez-Rodriguez would later be convicted. The corresponding police report at the time says officers were also raising the alarm about Chavez-Rodriguez’s illegal status.
The domestic violence case involved a complaint from his then girlfriend that Chavez-Rodriguez “punched and kicked her” and that she ran screaming to neighbors as her boyfriend tried running her over.
Chavez-Rodriguez, through a translator, admitted taking his child on that ride. The translator answered an officer’s question, replying, “I grabbed the child. I put him on the seat of the car, and I followed her.”
The girlfriend told police she jumped into some bushes to save herself and eventually made it to police headquarters.
After St. Peters Police flagged Chavez-Rodriguez illegal status, ICE responded that they already knew and that he was out on bond in a deportation case. They told police to let him go, according to police reports.
We should point out for some context that this happened in the middle of COVID.
But how is it that four years later, Chavez-Rodriguez is still awaiting deportation—and in a position to cause Sunday’s fatal crash?
FOX 2 sat down with immigration lawyer Jim Hacking to get some answers.
Hacking described immigration hearing delays by saying, “I’m going to trial next month in a case that was filed originally in 2011—and most of the continuances were just by the court. They weren’t things we did to try to drag things out. It’s just there’s that much of a backlog.”
Hacking says there’s no immigration court in St. Louis.
“There’s three judges in Kansas City; they’re basically handling, I think, seven or eight states,” he said. “While the courts are technically open to the public, technologically wise, it’s impossible to track down any meaningful information other than the person’s next court date and maybe their name.”
The criminal court was open to the public Tuesday in St. Louis. Chavez-Rodriguez initial appearance on the DWI death of an officer—but it was delayed while the courts looked for an interpreter.
