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.
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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.
After his release, Mejia failed to appear at his court hearing, and an order for his arrest was issued. However, he remained at large until his involvement in the fatal accident that killed Ferguson.
In response to questions about the no-bond release, DA Freeman told WRAL that it’s “not been unusual for defendants to receive a written promise to appear and be released to a sober adult if they have no history of prior offenses and no history of missing court which appears to have been the situation here.” She cited state law, NCGS 15A-534.2, which “provides a right to pretrial release in driving while impaired cases” under certain conditions.
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Family Reacts and Policy Debates
The victim’s brother, Reginald Ferguson, placed the blame for his brother’s death squarely on the system’s prior decision. “If he had never got out on bond, my brother would be alive today,” Reginald said to WRAL.
The incident has reignited debates over sanctuary policies, pretrial release, and ICE cooperation in the heavily Democratic Wake County. The county has a contentious history with ICE enforcement; a longtime Republican sheriff lost re-election in 2018 in a race largely centered on the agency’s 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement to assist in federal immigration enforcement.
This Durham case also follows another high-profile incident in nearby Mecklenburg County, where the alleged killer of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, Decarlos Dejuan Brown Jr., had been arrested 14 times before the fatal stabbing, sparking national debate over the use of cashless bail for repeat offenders.
Wake County DA Lorrin Freeman, who has served as the county’s top prosecutor for over a decade, declared earlier this year that she would not seek re-election.
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