ICE agents hold man suspected in killing
A man was taken into custody Sunday by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after he was accused of letting his 12-yearold daughter drive during a crash that killed a pedestrian who was walking his dogs in Houston.
Tomas Mejia Tol, 42, a citizen of Guatemala, has been charged with criminal negligent homicide and endangering a child. The victim was identified in court records as Enrique Vazquez. One of Vazquez’s dogs also died in the crash, police said.
Mejia Tol was arrested last Thursday and booked into Harris County Jail on a $1,000 bond for each charge, records show. ICE officials interviewed him two days later before issuing an immigration detainer, ICE spokeswoman Leticia Zamarripa said.
The next day, on Sunday, Mejia Tol was released from the jail on bond and taken into ICE custody, Zamarripa said. Both bonds for Mejia Tol have been revoked, and he remains in an ICE detention facility, his lawyer Fabio Amador told the Chronicle on Tuesday.
“My client is going through an incredibly difficult time, and all this will take time to resolve itself, starting with his immigration situation,” Amador said.
Mejia Tol was initially accused of allowing his daughter to drive a black Ford Explorer in the parking lot of an apartment complex in the 6000 block of Beverly Hill Street in west Houston.
Houston police said the child pulled forward from a parking space as Vazquez was walking his dog in the area. When the child hit the accelerator, the Ford quickly moved forward and struck Vazquez and one of his dogs, police said. The Ford then struck a tree.
Paramedics arrived and pronounced the man dead on the scene.