The suspect in a crash that killed a 46-year-old Raynham woman has been detained by ICE and faces being deported.
Juan Leonardo Parra Altamirano, 33, of Brockton, is an illegal immigrant from Ecuador who was arrested Thursday on charges, including leaving the scene of a crash that caused personal injury resulting in death, related to a Monday night fatal crash on Route 24 in West Bridgewater.
The crash killed Erpharo Gilbert, 46, of Raynham.
“She’s gone,” Gilbert’s husband, Jean Marie Coquillon, told WPRI, a Providence news station. “It was really tough. My 5-year-old son is still waiting for his mom to come home.”
Coquillon told that station that his wife worked for Boston Medical Center and Victory Human Services and was in the process of becoming a licensed social worker.
Parra Altamirano turned himself into the Massachusetts State Police barracks in Middleboro on Thursday morning. He was arraigned on the charges in Brockton District Court later that afternoon.
The same day, ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations Boston field office issued an immigration detainer with the court and the Plymouth County House of Correction, according to an agency spokesperson.
At around 10:30 p.m. on Monday, according to an MSP statement, a 2008 Scion TC and a 2015 Honda Accord were traveling northbound on Route 24 in West Bridgewater when the Scion changed lanes and struck the Honda, which in turn struck the concrete barrier. The Scion left the scene.
As the Honda was crushed against the barrier, a 2022 Ford Maverick struck it from behind, igniting the car in flames.
MSP and prosecutors say Parra Altamirano was the driver of the Scion. Erpharo Gilbert, 46, of Raynham, the driver of the Honda, was killed.
The 23-year-old Brockton man driving the Ford was not injured, according to MSP.
Removal proceedings occur in federal immigration courts administered by the Executive Office for Immigration Review, an office of the Department of Justice, which is separate from the Department of Homeland Security, the parent of ICE.
“Immigration judges in these courts make decisions based on the merits of each individual case, determining if a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal or eligible for certain forms of relief from removal,” according to an ICE spokesperson. “Once a noncitizen is subject to a final order of removal issued by an immigration judge or other lawful means, ICE officers may carry out the removal.”
