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 30 miles (48 km) 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]
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]
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]
^"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.
^ abRAY 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.
^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.
^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
^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.
^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.
^Ambrose, Grahmn (December 3, 2019). "Quad Citians Distance Themselves from Far-Right Speaker at Immigration Forum". The Quad City Times. ProQuest2321196515.
