•   Phoenix Police Officer Robert Sitek was shot four times 4/12/03 during a traffic stop altercation with an illegal alien that became violent. Sitek and his partner David Thwing were on routine patrol when a red truck cut off their squad car, and when the officers stopped the truck the driver began shooting. Officer Sitek was in cardiac arrest by the time he reached the hospital and lost a considerable amount of blood. Shooter Francisco A. Gallardo was a "Mexican citizen who had recently completed a seven-year prison term for aggravated assault." He had been deported after his release but had returned to Arizona. Gallardo was shot and killed as he tried to escape by Officer Thwing.
Medical Update, June 5, 2003: Officer Rob Sitek has had a slow but gradually successful recovery from injuries that surely would have been fatal to most. At nearly two months after the shooting, he has pulled out of a three-week coma, is still unable to walk but is determined to do so and eventually return to work.

•   Marc Atkinson was just 28 when he was shot and killed in a 1999 ambush by an illegal alien from Mexico. Officer Atkinson was a five-year veteran of the Phoenix Police Force, and was survived by his wife Karen, infant son and two siblings. The killer, Felipe Petrona-Cabanas, had around a pound of cocaine in his car when apprehended with two other Mexican nationals. The three came from a farming area in the state of Guerrero near Acapulco, and said they came to the United States to work but couldn't find any. A notable detail in the case is how an armed citizen, Rory Vertigan, came to the aid of the shot officer and helped apprehend the Mexicans, who certainly would have escaped over the border if they could have.

•   Officer Kenneth Collings of the Phoenix Police Department was killed in 1988 during the arrest of two robbery suspects at a local bank when one opened fire. One of the robbers, Ismael Conde, was quickly arrested but the other, Rudy Romero, escaped to Mexico. Romero was caught in southern Mexico in 2000 and brought back to stand trial. The Arizona Attorney General's Office credits help from the Phoenix Police Department, the FBI, the Attorney General for the Republic of Mexico, and the Mexican Federal Agency of Investigation — a rare and welcome act of extradition from our southern neighbor. In March 2003, Romero was sentenced to 98 years in state prison.

•   Officer Hugo Arango of the Doraville (Georgia) Police Department was murdered by an illegal alien Bautista Ramirez May 13, 2000 — there's no dispute about those facts. But the June trial has not been a pretty picture as admitted cop-killer Ramirez pleaded self-defense because he thought Officer Arango would kill him otherwise, saying "if I don't kill him, he's going to kill me." The prosecution contends that Ramirez shot the police officer simply to avoid arrest. The original altercation occurred outside a nightclub, when Arango approached Ramirez, then 19, and his cousin. Ramirez was an illegal alien from Mexico, and possessed a concealed gun. Also injured by Ramirez was nightclub manager David Contreras, who survived being shot in the face.  Update, June 25, 2003: Bautista Ramirez was found guilty of the murder of Officer Arango, as well as of carrying a concealed weapon and aggravated assault against David Contreras, who was blinded in one eye in the attack. Evidently the jury was not impressed with the defense strategy of blaming the victim. The jury decided Ramirez should get life in prison (with the possibility of parole) plus 20 years for shooting Contreras and one year for gun possession. According to the strange math of sentencing, the convicted cop killer could be out in 46 years or less.

•   Oceanside Officer Tony Zeppetella was a rookie cop, who had been in the department just over a year, when he was shot three times and killed in a credit union parking lot by Adrian George Camacho, a Mexican illegal alien with a long criminal record. Officer Zeppetella was married with a six-month-old child. He was born in Whittier and enlisted in the navy after he graduated from high school in 1994. Tony Zeppetella was 27 years old when he was killed. The accused killer had been deported several times, and his criminal record lists drugs, illegal firearms possession and gang activity. Camacho fled the scene of the shooting to the home of his ex-wife's parents, and was taken into custody only after a four-hour standoff.
 

•   Adriana Sanchez is a desired target for identity thieves because of her Latino name. The young woman had already passed a credit history check in order to get hired as a Los Angeles police officer, so she was surpised to find that someone in Atlanta had stolen her identity and had rung up $70,000 in debt. Sanchez, who works as a public information officer for the LAPD, felt a personal affront as well as ripped off, remarking, "You feel like you're being violated. . . . She even had my mom's address."   Investigators familiar with identity theft have noticed that thieves look for similar names to rip off. The LAPD officer's ID was stolen by someone named Adriana Sanchez-Palacios, who was charged in September for fraud and identity theft because the crime victim in this case knew exactly what to do.  The problem of identity theft has gotten so bad that some companies are offering identity theft insurance.


 

•   Border Patrol Agent James Epling died in performing his duties along the Mexican border, apparently drowning in the Colorado River in pursuit of several illegal aliens and was last seen along the shoreline as he followed the foreigners. He was the seventh Border officer to die in the line of duty in Yuma. Agent Epling was just 24 and was the father of three, going on four. His father-in-law is a retired Border Patrol agent from the McAllen, Texas, sector.  Just before disappearing, Epling had pulled a Chinese woman illegal alien out of the river. Three other Chinese were taken into custody the night of the disappearance, along with one Mexican believed to be the smuggler. Although there has been no evidence of foul play actually found, the smuggler can be charged in the death.



 

•   Denver police officer Robert Bryant was struck down in a hit-and-run as he was flagging down speeders near a school at around 3 in the afternoon January 22. There were numerous witnesses who said the driver gunned the engine of his Chevy S-10 pickup and purposely ran down Bryant, who was wearing a bright orange vest. The driver, a Mexican with no identification, was caught when he ran a red light a few blocks away and crashed into a car driven by an elderly man, who was also injured. Officer Bryant received serious injuries including a femur fracture but is expected to recover. Those who saw the incident say it is a miracle that he wasn't killed The Mexican driver apparently was drunk or on drugs, according to investigators and was injured in the crash.



 

•   Officer Will Seuis a motorcycle patrolman in Oakland, California, was killed on his ride home by an illegal alien. Fortunately some witnesses on the highway immediately phoned 911 and the accused hit-and-run driver, Carlos Mares, was quickly caught. Mares was driving his truck with a commercial load.  A sixteen-year veteran of the Police Department, Officer Seuis was remembered at his funeral as a hard-working cop who had received 33 letters of appreciation from citizens, including one from a motorist he had ticketed. He had been in traffic enforcement since 1998, and was a member of the department's 20-member precision motorcycle drill team. Seuis left a wife, Michelle, and two daughters.  The accused killer has a history of traffic convictions. It's curious that illegal alien Mares has his own business, Mares Trucking.
 

•   Officer Michael Gordon lost his life to a drunk driving illegal alien. The Chicago policeman was in the driver's seat of his squad car when it was struck by Luis Calle, a Guatemalan whose blood alcohol level was 0.177, twice the legal limit. Another officer, John Delcason, sustained injuries and was in fair condition in the hospital a few days after the incident. Luis Calle died a few hours after striking the police car.    Michael Gordon is survived by his wife and four children. Several of his relatives have also been police officers, including his father, brother, uncle and cousin. Before entering the police department, Gordon joined the 81st Airborne right after high school, serving in Bosnia and Korea. As a policeman, he asked to be assigned to a tough part of Chicago because he wanted to do more than just write tickets.

 
•   We must add the name of Brandon Winfield to the list of police officers murdered by illegal aliens. On Thursday, Oct. 14, Officer Winfield was checking out a disabled vehicle on State Route 423, south of Marion, Ohio, and apparently felt he was helping a stranded motorist. Details of the murder are not exactly clear, but Winfield was found shot in the head in his patrol car which had run off the road. The police are now searching for Juan Carlos Cruz who is considered armed and dangerous. Another suspect, as yet unnamed, is being held and is believed to be an illegal alien.  Deputy Winfield was married and had two sons, ages 2 and 3. The photo shows him with his three-year-old son Landon.

•   The danger on the highways from truckloads of illegal aliens in border areas has been increasing drastically. It is not unusual for a van full of illegal aliens to speed down the road in the wrong direction to avoid American law enforcement, causing death and injury to both American citizens and foreigners. One of the worst examples (shown at the left) took place near San Diego June 25, 2002, where seven people were killed and at least 31 were injured when a van tried to avoid a border checkpoint by turning the lights off and speeding against oncoming traffic in the wrong lane. Larry S. Baca of Albuquerque was killed when his Ford was smashed head-on by the immigrant van and knocked airborne. On March 10, 2003, two men were killed and 20 people were injured when a stolen truck loaded with illegal aliens tried to outrun American authorities.

 

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