An attempted traffic stop by federal immigration officers ended in a deadly crash Sunday after the driver fled and smashed his car into a tree in Grand Rapids, Michigan, according to police.
The driver, a Guatemalan national, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Rosario Ovando, consul general of Guatemala in Chicago, which serves Michigan, identified the man killed in the crash as Mario David Coronado Juárez.
Ovando told NBC News on Wednesday that Coronado, 36, was originally from the municipality of Comitancillo in San Marcos.
On Thursday, a spokesperson with the Department of Homeland Security told NBC News in a statement that ICE officers were looking for a different Guatemalan person who they say was unauthorized to be in the U.S., had “multiple alcohol related driving offenses” and was “wanted in Guatemala for a drunk and disorderly charge.”
When ICE officers attempted to stop Coronado “to confirm the identity of the driver,” he fled at a high rate of speed, the DHS spokesperson said. “ICE officers immediately discontinued the enforcement action.”
The DHS spokesperson added that when ICE officers discovered he had crashed his vehicle into a tree, catching fire, they “immediately attempted to render aid and extinguish the fire” until local authorities arrived. After the crash, ICE officers discovered “the driver of the vehicle was Mario David Coronado-Juarez and not the vehicle’s registered owner.”
According to DHS, Coronado was not legally present in the U.S. after re-entering the country following his removal in 2021 by Border Patrol, which is considered a felony.
Coronado had been employed in the U.S. as a construction worker to provide for his wife and three young children, who are back in Guatemala, according to Karla Barberi and Gema Lowe, both members of the advocacy group Movimiento Cosecha in Grand Rapids.
“Mario was a hardworking man for the working class. He lived a humble life. I’m showing you here who Mario is,” Lowe said, holding a picture of Coronado at a news conference Tuesday. “In his car, he only has tools to work here and just to be working for his family.”
While Coronado’s immediate relatives live in Guatemala, he would spend holidays and weekends with his extended family in Michigan, Barberi told NBC News on Thursday. Coronado’s family belongs to an evangelical church in Grand Rapids.
“This is a family with very strong Christian roots,” she said, adding that Coronado’s relatives told her they have never even seen him drunk.
“If ICE was chasing him and caused his death, we want justice,” Barberi said at Tuesday press conference. After learning of DHS’ version of what happened, Barberi said on Thursday that she is worried racial profiling may have led to Coronado’s encounter with ICE.
“We have people that they’re not looking for, and then, they take them anyways,” Barberi said. Immigration arrests of people with no criminal convictions have continued to increase, she added.
At approximately 7:10 a.m. Sunday, Grand Rapids police responded to reports of a car that had crashed into a tree and caught fire. Coronado “was pronounced deceased at the scene,” police said in a statement Sunday.
In a follow-up statement Tuesday, Grand Rapids police said, “Prior to the crash Sunday morning, Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel attempted to stop the involved vehicle and the driver fled.”
Barberi said Coronado’s family found out about Coronado’s death after Grand Rapids police called them to ask if they knew him. Left in disbelief, his relatives and some of their friends walked over to the scene of the crash.
They found his construction tools and receipts from recent wire transfers he had completed to send money his mother in Guatemala, Barberi said. “That’s when they knew.”
Grand Rapids Police Chief Joseph A. Trigg requested assistance from Michigan State Police in the investigation. Col. James Grady II, the state police’s director, confirmed to NBC News that the agency is “investigating what led to Sunday’s deadly crash” in collaboration with Grand Rapids police.
Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer also directed the state police “to conduct an independent review of the law enforcement actions surrounding this situation,” her spokesperson, Kaylie Hanson, said in a statement.
Rep. Hillary Scholten, D-Mich., sent a letter to acting ICE Director David Venturella on Tuesday requesting information about the agency’s actions in connection with Coronado’s death.
“No traffic stop should end with a fatality. Something went wrong, and we need to know what and how,” Scholten said in a statement, adding that she will be demanding “a transparent investigation into facts we don’t yet know.”
Scholten’s letter to Venturella demands a response by Sunday, as well as an immediate briefing on the situation.
“The purpose of federal law enforcement is to make our communities safer. We must make sure that is happening,” she added.
Ovando said the Guatemalan Consulate will assist Coronado’s family with the repatriation of his body whenever authorities conclude their investigation into the incident.
A community vigil in Coronado’s name is planned for Thursday night at the site of the crash, according to Movimiento Cosecha in Grand Rapids.
Coronado is survived by his wife, two daughters, a son and his parents, all of whom are in Guatemala.
