A Mexican national who was in the U.S. illegally has been arrested and is being held on $1 million bail after allegedly crashing his vehicle into a Washington State Patrol trooper and killing him.
Trooper Christopher M. Gadd, 27, was watching for speeding and DUI drivers, when he was struck and killed in a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 5 around 3 a.m. Saturday.
An investigation into the crash found an SUV being driven by 33-year-old Raul Benitez Santana was heading southbound on the interstate when the vehicle veered onto the shoulder and struck the trooper’s patrol car.
The Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office reportedly found the SUV was traveling at a high rate of speed when it crashed into the police vehicle.
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On Tuesday, FOX 13 in Seattle reported it had obtained court documents alleging Santana had bloodshot eyes and admitted to police he had been drinking alcohol and smoking marijuana before getting behind the wheel of the vehicle and driving.
Santana was booked into the Snohomish County Jail, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) Seattle Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) division placed an immigration detainer on the Mexican citizen.
"As one of the operational directorates associated with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ERO Seattle lodges immigration detainers against noncitizens who have been arrested for criminal activity and taken into custody by state or local law enforcement," a spokesperson for ICE told Fox News Digital. "An immigration detainer is a request from ICE to state or local law enforcement agencies to notify ICE as early as possible before a removable noncitizen is released, allowing ERO to assume custody for possible removal to the subject’s home country in accordance with federal law."
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An ICE official confirmed Santana is a citizen of Mexico, and was in the U.S. unlawfully after entering the country at an unknown date and time.
He was first encountered by ERO Seattle on Oct. 28, 2013, at the South Correctional Entity in Burien, Washington, after being arrested for failing to appear in court for driving on a suspended license.
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In May 2013, Santana was sentenced to 90 days behind bars, with 87 of the days suspended, after he was convicted of being in possession of 40 grams or fewer of marijuana.
Then on Oct. 6, 2014, Santana was sentenced to 90 days for driving on a suspended license, and in May 2019, he was arrested for domestic violence assault.
