Death of Brandon Mendoza explained

Brandon Mendoza was a Hispanic Mesa, Arizona, police officer who was killed in 2014 by an illegal 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 in the opposite lane;[2] several police officers had tried to stop or ram his vehicle.[3] Silva, an illegal immigrant in 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]

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]

Notes and References

  1. News: Jim Walsh . Mesa dedicates ballfield in memory of officer killed in crash . March 1, 2019 . The Arizona Republic . May 26, 2014 . the driver was inebriated, with a blood alcohol count three times the legal limit..
  2. News: Sarah Jarvis . Slain Mesa officer remembered with field in his honor . March 1, 2019 . . May 11, 2015 . 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. News: Wrong-way driver hit, killed off-duty Mesa officer . March 1, 2019 . KPHO-TV - CBS 5 . May 12, 2014 . 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. News: RAY STERN . The Immigration Issue: Mary Ann Mendoza’s Family Was Shattered by a Man Living Here Illegally . 22 March 2023 . . 23 March 2017 . Corona-Silva had been arrested in 1994 on burglary and assault charges.
  5. News: RAY STERN . The Immigration Issue: Mary Ann Mendoza's Family Was Shattered by a Man Living Here Illegally . March 1, 2019 . Phoenix New Times . March 23, 2017 . 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. Web site: Who were the victims of illegal immigrants Trump named?. PolitiFact.
  7. News: Mother Wants Tougher Immigration Laws After Son Was Killed By Undocumented Immigrant . March 1, 2019 . WBUR-FM - NPR Boston . August 9, 2018.
  8. News: Yihyun Jeong . 42-year-old ID'd as wrong-way driver who killed Mesa officer . March 1, 2019 . The Arizona Republic . May 14, 2014 . 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. News: MATTHEW HENDLEY . Raul Silva Corona Identified as Wrong-Way Driver Who Killed Mesa Police Officer . March 1, 2019 . Phoenix New Times . May 13, 2014 . 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 . The impact of on-officer video cameras on police–citizen contacts: findings from a controlled experiment in Mesa, AZ . Journal of Experimental Criminology . September 2015 . 11 . 3 . 445–458 . 10.1007/s11292-015-9237-8 . Officer Mendoza was one of the first officers to volunteer to wear an on-office video camera.
  11. News: Mesa Sgt. Brandon Mendoza honored at funeral . March 1, 2019 . The Arizona Republic . May 17, 2014 . Mendoza, 32, was posthumously promoted to sergeant following his death.
  12. News: Megan Cassidy . Mom is angry that man who killed son wasn't deported . March 1, 2019 . USA Today . July 11, 2014 . 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. News: Kenneth P. Vogel . Katie Rogers . For Trump and 'Angel Families,' a Mutually Beneficial Bond . March 1, 2019 . . July 4, 2018 . 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. News: Angel Families, conservative activists hold rally at San Ysidro POE . March 1, 2019 . KFMB-TV CBS 8 . December 14, 2018 . Mary Anne Mendoza, a representative of the national Angel Families organization.
  15. News: RNC speaker pulled after anti-Semitic messages . 26 August 2020 . Associated Press . . August 25, 2020.
  16. News: Genovese . Daniella . RNC speakers: What to know about Mary Ann Mendoza . 26 August 2020 . Fox News . August 25, 2020.
  17. News: Ambrose . Grahmn . Quad Citians Distance Themselves from Far-Right Speaker at Immigration Forum . The Quad City Times . December 3, 2019. .
  18. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/mary-ann-mendoza-pulled-rnc-lineup-retweeting-anti/story?id=72607904 "Mary Ann Mendoza pulled from RNC lineup after retweeting anti-Semitic QAnon conspiracy."
  19. Web site: Mesa dedicates ballfield in memory of officer killed in crash. azcentral.
  20. Web site: Slain Mesa officer remembered with field in his honor. azcentral.
  21. Web site: Mesa unveils Mendoza Field at Guerrero Park. Eric Smith. Tribune. East Valley Tribune.

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