KTLA

ICE Agents’ Statements Conflict With Surveillance Footage of Crash That Killed Farmworker Couple: Delano Police

The brothers of Santos Hilario Garcia grieve during funeral services at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Delano for Garcia and Marcelina Garcia Perfecto, who were killed when their car overturned while fleeing federal immigration agents. (Credit: Al Seib / Los Angeles Times)

Delano police say immigration agents gave statements that conflicted with surveillance footage in the wake of a collision where two immigrants in the country illegally died while fleeing

The death of Santos Hilario Garcia and Marcelina Garcia Perfecto sparked protests in the Central Valley community. The couple, who had six children, were not the intended targets for arrest, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Shortly after the March 13 crash, a deportation officer told police officers that his car followed in the same direction of a vehicle he was attempting to stop, but that he was not in “pursuit with emergency lights/sirens,” according to a statement provided in a Delano Police Department traffic collision report.

But surveillance footage obtained by the Police Department showed that one of two cars driven by the deportation officers had its front and rear emergency lights activated and the second had its rear emergency lights activated.

Read the full story on LATimes.com.

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