Posted on 12/06/2007 12:34:38 PM PST by Rick.Donaldson
Hit And Run On Air Force Academy Campus Posted: 7:17 AM Dec 4, 2007 Last Updated: 7:17 AM Dec 4, 2007 Reporter: 11 News Email Address: news@kktv11news.com
A civilian employee at the U.S. Air Force Academy is dead as the result of a hit-and-run collision near the academy's community center yesterday morning.
It happened about 9 a.m. Monday, and kept the north and south entry gates to the campus closed for about four hours.
The driver still has not been located.
The person they arrested for the 'murder' -- because I consider it homicide when someone hits another with a car and flees the scene of the crime, turned out to be the wife of a Mexican Air Force Officer.
That's not what's bugging me.
She was release on $3000 bond. Considerably less than anyone else would have been released on!
Wife Of Mexican Air Force Officer Arrested In Fatal Hit-And-Run
POSTED: 5:47 am MST December 5, 2007
UPDATED: 2:07 pm MST December 5, 2007
AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. — Troopers have arrested the wife of a Mexican air force officer after a hit-and-run that killed a civilian Air Force Academy employee, the Colorado State Patrol said Tuesday.
Veronica Prieto-Gudino, 30, was arrested Monday on suspicion of careless driving causing death and failure to report an accident involving death, Sgt. Rick Hoffmann confirmed.
She was booked into the El Paso County Criminal Justice Center and freed on $3,000 bond, the El Paso County Sheriff’s Office said.
Officers called the U.S. Justice Department to confirm that Prieto-Gudino, a Mexican citizen, did not have diplomatic immunity, Hoffmann said. A phone number for her could not be found.
Donna Head, 65, of Monument, was struck around 9 a.m. Monday in a parking lot near the academy’s community center.
Officials closed both the north and the south entrance gates to the base while authorities searched for the driver and eventually found the vehicle suspected of hitting Head.
However, the driver was not inside.
Medical aid, including an air ambulance, was called to the scene, but the woman was already dead by the time paramedics arrived
Head was the flight chief for the academy’s family program, meaning she oversaw all child programs for the academy. Her husband, Air Force Brig. Gen. James Head, retired two years ago as a physics professor and vice dean of faculty at the academy, The Gazette reported.
She has worked at the academy since 1991.
Prieto-Gudino is married to a Mexican officer working at the academy as a language instructor through a military exchange program, an Air Force Academy source told the newspaper.
Finally... my wife works there, walks a good distance from her car to her facility and could easily have been the person hit. This woman, Mexican citizen or not, has no business being release on a mere $3000 bond.
They didn’t look at a “run risk” here????????????
I was on the Academy grounds yesterday talking to some people. A story that I have heard is that the driver had been at the pediatric clinic, and was told that her daughter needed to be taken to the Emergency Room at the hospital immediately. (Why they didn’t call an ambulance is a mystery). Apparently, she took off very quickly, talking to someone on her cell phone (perhaps her husband) when she hit Donna. Fearing for the medical condition of her child, she kept right on driving.
“Wherever there are Mexicans, there is Mexico.”
We had a hit-and-run by a Mexican national here. One of my friend’s acted as her interpreter. She explained that she left the scene because she needed to have her husband handle everything. That’s how they do things down there. The fact she never came forward is completely separate. In that culture, the wife of a prominent man would allow her husband to “fix” the problem.
Okaaaay... according to the article at top, it took at least a day to find her...
I am sure there were extenuating circumstances too... But, the issue with me is the reduced bond. For a foreign citizen, is this normal in this state? In El Paso county? It’s BS if it is.
When something involves the death of someone, usually the bonds are set up around 10 grand. The life of this woman, who has supported the military for all her years as the wife of a military officer isn’t worth keeping a foreign citizen from running off?
I’m not sure she will, but then again, I’m thinking if it were an American in Mexico, they aren’t going ANYWHERE until the trial.
They arrested her yesterday morning actually, or very late the night before. It was on the local news station on my way to work at 0500 in the morning yesterday.
She didn’t turn herself in, either as someone else was saying about a different incident.
I don’t CARE about “other countries social interactions” or “customs” either. That’s a bunch of PC crap.
This is America, act like an American or don’t COME to this country.
I can’t count the number of hit and runs and deaths I’ve seen while working in Mexico.
So great to seem them bringing that “culture” to America.
The good news is, if this continues, you’ll be able to buy your way out with just about any cop.
I was quite surprised by the $3000 bond!
Hey I was over there mountain biking day before yesterday. They wouldn’t let anyone out for about 1/2 an hour at the North gate.
I don’t know if this is related or not to this Tuesday afternoon stop, but thanks for posting this.
I can’t seem to find anything about it in the Gazette yet.
They probably want her to go back to Mexico so they can close out the file and not have to worry about anyone in Mexico getting offended.
Actually, it is a "homicide," but not necessarily a "murder." The two terms are not synonymous.
"Homicide" is the killing of one person by another. It would include accidental killings as well as justifiable and self-defense killings. "Murder" is the unlawful killing of one individual by another. In law, the term "murder" is usually even more restrictive.
The last company I worked for had a plant down in mexico. Corporate legal told people going down there to troubleshoot the line that if you were in an accident while driving, especially one that involved bodily injury, to flee the country as fast as you can and contact legal ASAP as soon as you were across the border.
So yea, you're right on.
Homicide is synonymous with murder. Period. There are various definitions thereof. Criminal homicide occurs when a person purposely, knowingly, recklessly or negligently causes the death of another. Murder and manslaughter are both examples of criminal homicide.
Thank you for trying to “correct” me, but this is the actual definition. I’ll agree with you on the second part of your statement, but the first is simply incorrect.
Criminal homicide is, as I stated above (and plagiarized from an online dictionary)”recklessly or negligently” killing another person.
This woman 1) HIT the victim with her car, 2) FLED the scene, 3) appeared to have realized she did something wrong.
In my book this is negligence, if not RECKLESS because all three things occurred.
Thank you for trying to “correct” me, but this is the actual definition. I’ll agree with you on the second part of your statement, but the first is simply incorrect.
Criminal homicide is, as I stated above (and plagiarized from an online dictionary)”recklessly or negligently” killing another person.
"Homicide" is not synonymous with "murder." You admit as much yourself in your comments above when you use the term "criminal homicide." The adjective criminal modifies the meaning of the term "homicide." I am using these terms in their ordinary meanings. When you get into legal definitions, the terms become even more specific and limited in their meanings.
A hit and run driver who kills someone has always committed a homicide. They may, or may not, have committed manslaughter, or even murder, or even first degree murder, if the deliberate intent to kill the person was present. They are, by definition, guilty of leaving the scene of an accident and failure to render aid unless they were unaware that they had hit someone (that can happen in rare circumstances).
I mean no disrespect to you, but I do like to see the language used carefully.
I agree 100% with what you have said. Not in anyway to defend the driver, but I can imagine a scenario where a mother, particularly a foreign-born mother, is on the verge of panic about her baby, and is willing to ask forgiveness, rather than permission when it comes to notifying someone of her baby’s condition. I don’t condone it, I am just looking for an explanation.
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