A man who had been previously deported twice from the U.S. has been accused of killing an American man in a hit-and-run accident in September, an incident critics are linking to a 2020 decision by a local Democratic prosecutor to release the man without bond on a prior DWI charge.
Wilmer Fuentes Mejia allegedly struck and killed 61-year-old Richard Ferguson, Jr. in Durham, North Carolina, on September 13. Ferguson was reportedly walking home from his second job after getting off the city bus when a vehicle veered off the road near a bus stop, hitting two signs before colliding with him.
During a recent court appearance, a prosecutor stated that Mejia, a foreign national, had been deported from the country twice before. A spokesperson for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) did not immediately respond to a request for comment regarding Mejia’s immigration history.
2020 DWI Arrest and Release
The alleged hit-and-run comes three years after Mejia’s 2020 arrest in Wake County for allegedly driving under the influence (DWI). At that time, Wake County District Attorney Lorrin Freeman, a Democrat, released Mejia without requiring a bond…