You read stuff like this and you just ask—what is going on in our country?
Remember this when you hear about American citizens getting in trouble for violating coronavirus policies.
This story comes from Culpeper, Virginia, in Culpeper County, which is where my family lived back in Colonial times.
The town of Culpeper (formerly known as Culpeper Courthouse and before that as Fairfax) was originally surveyed by a young surveyor by the name of George Washington, and was occupied by both sides in the Civil War. So there's a lot of history there.
Now it’s a town where a foreigner can flout American law and infect American police officers, then be released.
From Fox 5 Washington, D.C.:
Two Virginia police officers have coronavirus after they physically detained a man accused of assaulting his girlfriend. Police in Culpeper said the suspect, who is in the country illegally, also tested positive for the virus. Police said even though Immigration and Customs Enforcement was contacted, the suspect was released the same day he was arrested. [2 Culpeper police officers have coronavirus after detaining a domestic violence suspect who tested positive, by Lindsay Watts, FOX 5 Washington D.C., May 5, 2020]
The video accompanying the article says the perp was previously deported twice. And that’s backed up by this WJLA article: Virginia cops contract COVID-19 after 'hands-on' arrest of twice-deported assault suspect, by Elliott Henney, WJLA, May 5, 2020.
Yet here he is again, flouting our system.
Look at the privileges the perp enjoys:
1. In the country illegally
2. Deported, returns
3. Deported again, returns again
4. Commits an assault
5. Has COVID-19 and infects police with COVID-19
6. Gets released the same day
7. Has a protected identity, his name isn't publicly mentioned
Americans have gotten in trouble for much less in the Age of coronavirus. Is this an example of anarcho-tyranny?
Back to the Fox 5 article:
Maj. Chris Settle, with the Town of Culpeper Police Dept., said three officers responded to a domestic violence call around 2 a.m. on April 28. He said the suspect was assaulting his girlfriend even as police responded. “Long story short, we had to utilize use of force to get the male in custody,” said Settle.
And after that…
[Major Settle] said a few days later, two of the officers tested positive for the virus. “As of today [May 5], they have mild symptoms at home in the early parts of this, and we’re hoping for the best,” he said.
The third officer is in quarantine.
To its credit, the Culpeper Police Department did contact ICE. Not that it helped.
Settle said police contacted ICE to notify them of the arrest. He said typically immigration officers would pick up the suspect from jail, but that didn't happen this time. “ICE did not come get him, and I think for obvious reasons,” said Settle. “I think because he had covid-19.”
After that, the guy is released.
Settle said police were not notified of the suspect’s bond hearing and at the hearing, he was released on bond back into the community. Police have not released his name or mugshot to retain his medical privacy.
“Medical privacy”?
Settle said there has been some pushback from the community on that decision. “We totally understand that, we totally get it,” he said. “But again it is a medical privacy issue and does create a liability.”
So the guy’s “medical privacy” trumps all.
It’s unclear where the suspect could be now. Police said his girlfriend has a restraining order against him, so he can’t go home.
But he’s free to go anywhere else he wants. Who knows, he might go home anyway.
ICE tells FOX 5 it will be difficult to provide details without the suspect’s name.
Well, yeah.
The agency says cases are evaluated on a case by case basis and if detention was appropriate, ICE would coordinate with ICE Health Service Corps about an appropriate detention location that could manage any medical condition a detainee had.
Would an American citizen be allowed to get away with this?
