On a wet Sunday morning St. Louis City police officer David Lee died in the line of duty. At the scene of one car accident a driver hit Lee, causing deadly injuries.
Ramon Arnaldo Chavez-Rodriguez lacked a driver license and stood convicted of crimes in St. Charles County a couple of years ago. And he was an illegal immigrant.
MAGA world quickly picked-up the sad story. FOX News, Newsweek, News Nation, the New York Post, USA Today and countless other news outlets – plus our local media – told of the beloved officer killed by an illegal. Early on the man who prosecuted Chavez explained that St. Charles authorities attempted to get him detained by ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement] but the feds refused to take him.
Yes, it was a tragic day for St. Louis. Unfortunately, hypocrisy permeates the reality.
To start, Chavez was first arrested in October 2020, meaning the federal officials who refused to detain and deport him were part of the “tough on illegal immigrants” Trump administration.
The charges against Chavez included DWI and domestic violence. In that Republican Utopia of St. Charles County, they sentenced him not to prison but to a strip mall alcohol counseling service (SATOP) and gave a Suspended Imposition of Sentence [SIS] if he completed probation. For this to happen the judge and the prosecutor – and the defense attorney – had to sign-off.
You see, out there they say they’re tough on crime but, well, undocumented Hispanics are “good workers” and being illegal they work cheap. They don’t look at paperwork for those who roof, hang wallboard, or build decks. The fact that Chavez still lived in this area and drove a decent car after his probation points to him being one of those sought after ‘good workers.’ Overlooking a few minor transgressions like driving drunk or hurting a woman just gave him character.
(I wonder how many other undocumented workers with criminal histories get similar easy treatment out in Utopia?)
By the way, October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. After a career in social services, I can, alas, assure you that violence against women remains a plague infecting all rungs on the economic ladder: it becomes perhaps more noticed at the bottom where people like Chavez eke out a meager existence. But it happens in Frontenac and Ladue too, every day. And every day it’s mostly ignored.
So, for me the greatest tragedy of Officer Lee’s death is that it was preventable. Chavez committed a violent crime and in other instances endangered innocent people. His cases reached the end of the conveyor belt in 2022: a five-year prison sentence would have had him still behind bars or strictly controlled on that Sunday morning. He had the good fortune to break the law where tough on crime is just poli-speak. Sorry Officer Lee.
Glenn Koenen
Header image is from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police website. BackStoppers is assisting the family of Officer David Lee and accepting donations.