Death of Brandon Mendoza

Brandon Mendoza was a Hispanic Mesa, Arizona, police officer who was killed in 2014 by an undocumented immigrant driving drunk in the wrong lane. Later investigation found that the driver had a lengthy criminal history and was driving without a license. Mendoza was posthumously promoted, and a foundation was set up in his honor. His death became a part of the broader public debate regarding US immigration policy.

Death

Mendoza died on May 12, 2014, in a head-on collision with Raul Silva-Corona, who had a blood alcohol content of 0.24%, or three-times the legal limit.[1] Silva, 42, had driven more than 30 miles (48 km) in the opposite lane;[2] several police officers had tried to stop or ram his vehicle.[3] Silva, an undocumented immigrant to the United States, had a criminal record dating back to 1994, which included charges for burglary and assaulting a police officer.[4] He was convicted of a conspiracy charge, but missed his hearing sentence and lived as a fugitive. He was apprehended by the US Border Patrol in 2012.[5][6][7] Following Mendoza's death, as Silva had no driver's license, law enforcement had difficulty determining his criminal record.[8] Silva-Corona also died in the crash.[5]

Officer Mendoza, 32, and a 13-year veteran of the police department, was off-duty, having finished his work shift, and was driving his own car when he was hit.[9] Mendoza was one of the first officers to volunteer to wear a body camera.[10]

Aftermath

Mendoza was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant.[11]

Mendoza's mother, Mary Ann Mendoza

Following the incident, Mary Ann Mendoza, his mother, wrote a letter to then President Barack Obama requesting that "illegal aliens" not be allowed to register vehicles.[12] Mendoza's mother shared her story with then-candidate Donald Trump and appeared with him in a television panel together with other victims' families and at an August 2016 speech in Phoenix, Arizona, where Trump laid out his administration's immigration proposals.[13] Mendoza's mother is the Founder of the national Angel Families group on her son's behalf. She has appeared at several Angel Families rallies and a range of other public events.[14]

Mendoza's mother was a guest speaker at the 2016 Republican National Convention.[15] She worked with the Trump administration to establish the Victims of Immigration Crime Engagement office. In 2020, Arizona congressman Andy Biggs announced she would attend the year's State of the Union address as his guest.[16]

In 2019, Mendoza spoke at the Quad Cities Immigration Forum alongside Nick Fuentes, an avowed white nationalist and anti semite, who warned the crowd of the "drastic consequences" of non-white immigration to the United States.[17]

She was scheduled to speak at the 2020 Republican National Convention. Her appearance, however, was canceled following social media posts which included anti-semitic conspiracy theories related to the QAnon group. Trump campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh confirmed that Mendoza was dropped. "We have removed the scheduled video from the convention lineup and it will no longer run this week," he said in a statement to ABC News.[18]

Mendoza Field

In 2014, the City of Mesa honored Mendoza by deciding to rename the baseball field in his name, though at the honoring ceremony at the field, the final name had not yet been selected.[19] In 2015, in a ceremony at the field, it was formally dedicated as "Mendoza Field."[20][21]

References
  1. Jim Walsh (May 26, 2014). "Mesa dedicates ballfield in memory of officer killed in crash". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved March 1, 2019. the driver was inebriated, with a blood alcohol count three times the legal limit.
  2. Sarah Jarvis (May 11, 2015). "Slain Mesa officer remembered with field in his honor". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved March 1, 2019. Police said 42-year-old Raul Silva-Corona, the man in the other car who also died in the crash, had traveled more than 30 miles the wrong way and was likely impaired.
  3. "Wrong-way driver hit, killed off-duty Mesa officer". KPHO-TV - CBS 5. May 12, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2019. A DPS officer tried to ram the vehicle st SR 51 and Thomas Road to get the driver to stop but was unsuccessful. [...] Cook said there were "at least a half a dozen officers" trying to stop the suspect.
  4. RAY STERN (March 23, 2017). "The Immigration Issue: Mary Ann Mendoza's Family Was Shattered by a Man Living Here Illegally". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved March 22, 2023. Corona-Silva had been arrested in 1994 on burglary and assault charges
  5. RAY STERN (March 23, 2017). "The Immigration Issue: Mary Ann Mendoza's Family Was Shattered by a Man Living Here Illegally". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved March 1, 2019. Corona-Silva had been arrested in 1994 on burglary and assault charges in Adams County, Colorado. He was convicted on a conspiracy to commit burglary charge. But he skipped his sentencing hearing, and lived off the grid for nearly a decade before the Border Patrol caught him near Why, Arizona, in 2012.
  6. "Who were the victims of illegal immigrants Trump named?". PolitiFact.
  7. "Mother Wants Tougher Immigration Laws After Son Was Killed By Undocumented Immigrant". WBUR-FM - NPR Boston. August 9, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2019.
  8. Yihyun Jeong (May 14, 2014). "42-year-old ID'd as wrong-way driver who killed Mesa officer". The Arizona Republic. Retrieved March 1, 2019. Silva Corona has no record of having been issued a driver's license, according to DPS. The absence of that document made it difficult to determine whether Silva Corona had any prior encounters with law enforcement.
  9. MATTHEW HENDLEY (May 13, 2014). "Raul Silva Corona Identified as Wrong-Way Driver Who Killed Mesa Police Officer". Phoenix New Times. Retrieved March 1, 2019. Mendoza wasn't even on-duty at the time. He had just finished his shift, and was driving his personal vehicle when Corona hit him.
  10. Justin T. Ready; Jacob T. N. Young (September 2015). "The impact of on-officer video cameras on police–citizen contacts: findings from a controlled experiment in Mesa, AZ". Journal of Experimental Criminology. 11 (3): 445–458. doi:10.1007/s11292-015-9237-8. Officer Mendoza was one of the first officers to volunteer to wear an on-office video camera
  11. "Mesa Sgt. Brandon Mendoza honored at funeral". The Arizona Republic. May 17, 2014. Retrieved March 1, 2019. Mendoza, 32, was posthumously promoted to sergeant following his death
  12. Megan Cassidy (July 11, 2014). "Mom is angry that man who killed son wasn't deported". USA Today. Retrieved March 1, 2019. Mendoza's letter comes in the midst of another politically explosive immigration debate. On Tuesday, Obama asked Congress for $3.7 billion to deal with the rush of undocumented minors crossing the U.S.-Mexican border.
  13. Kenneth P. Vogel; Katie Rogers (July 4, 2018). "For Trump and 'Angel Families,' a Mutually Beneficial Bond". The New York Times. Retrieved March 1, 2019. Ms. Mendoza was among three family members who spoke at the Republican National Convention in July 2016. The next month, she appeared with Mr. Trump and members of a couple of other victims' families during a televised panel on Sean Hannity's Fox News show. A week later, they were onstage again with Mr. Trump at a speech in Phoenix during which he laid out his immigration agenda.
  14. "Angel Families, conservative activists hold rally at San Ysidro POE". KFMB-TV CBS 8. December 14, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2019. Mary Anne Mendoza, a representative of the national Angel Families organization
  15. "RNC speaker pulled after anti-Semitic messages". PBS NewsHour. Associated Press. August 25, 2020. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  16. Genovese, Daniella (August 25, 2020). "RNC speakers: What to know about Mary Ann Mendoza". Fox News. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
  17. Ambrose, Grahmn (December 3, 2019). "Quad Citians Distance Themselves from Far-Right Speaker at Immigration Forum". The Quad City Times. ProQuest 2321196515.
  18. "Mary Ann Mendoza pulled from RNC lineup after retweeting anti-Semitic QAnon conspiracy." By Meredith Deliso and Will Steakin, ABC News August 25, 2020
  19. "Mesa dedicates ballfield in memory of officer killed in crash". azcentral.
  20. "Slain Mesa officer remembered with field in his honor". azcentral.
  21. Tribune, Eric Smith. "Mesa unveils Mendoza Field at Guerrero Park". East Valley Tribune.
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