Georgia teacher dies in car crash involving illegal immigrant fleeing from ICE: police

A teacher in Savannah, Ga., was killed in a car crash Monday after an illegal immigrant allegedly fled from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to police.

The Chatham County Police Department said that officers responded to the crash at about 7:45 a.m., outside one of its precincts, WTOC reported. The crash killed Hesse K-8 School teacher Linda Davis.

School Principal Alonna McMullen posted on Facebook on Monday regarding the crash, "I wanted to make our families aware that our school has experienced the death of a teacher, who was killed in a traffic accident this morning just outside the school. Dr. Linda Davis was a beloved member of our school family and her loss has affected us deeply."

The Department of Homeland Security was conducting an operation, attempting to pull over a Guatemalan illegal immigrant, Oscar Vasquez Lopez. He was issued a final order of removal by a federal judge in 2024, after entering the U.S. illegally on an unknown date and at an unknown location, according to DHS.

During the DHS operation, officers observed Vasquez Lopez enter a vehicle, and they attempted a traffic stop. Vasquez Lopez initially complied with officers but then fled the scene, making a U-turn and running a red light, colliding into Davis' vehicle.

Davis was pronounced dead at a hospital, and Vasquez Lopez was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Vasquez Lopez was arrested by CCPD officers and charged with first-degree homicide by vehicle, reckless driving, driving without valid license, and failure to obey traffic control device.

“This vehicular homicide is an absolute tragedy and [the] deadly consequence of politicians and the media constantly demonizing ICE officers and encouraging those here illegally to resist arrest — a felony,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said.

“These dangerous tactics are putting people’s lives at risk. Fleeing from and resisting federal law enforcement is not only a crime but extraordinarily dangerous and puts oneself, our officers and innocent civilians at risk. Now, an innocent bystander has lost their life."

According to CCPD, they were unaware that DHS or ICE were conducting operations in the area, and no CCPD officers were part of the chase.

Chatham County Chairman Chester Ellis told WTOC that if they had been made aware, then there likely would’ve been a way to arrest Vasquez Lopez without endangering others and resulting in Davis' death.

“I’m saying to the President on down to all of our national leaders, there’s a better way to do this. And I think if you allow us to be at the table to draw out strategies and come up with ways of doing things, we can prevent this,” Ellis said.

“We have a no-chase policy, and the no-chase policy is to help protect our citizens more than it is anything else. So there may have been a different way to corner the individual so that he could not run, or that he could not cause the accident that took the life of Dr. Davis.”

CCPD Chief Jeff Hadley said, “Condolences to the Davis family, Savannah Chatham public schools, and anyone that’s affected by this. As the Chairman stated, this is really unfortunate and more than likely, preventable.”

DHS has been cooperating with CCPD’s investigation of the crash, according to Hadley.