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Illegal Immigrant Found Guilty In Crash That Killed Washington State Trooper

Charlie Kirk Staff

06/06/2025

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Illegal Immigrant Found Guilty In Crash That Killed Washington State Trooper

A jury in Washington state has convicted a Mexican national living in the U.S. illegally for his role in the high-speed crash that killed a state trooper last year.

Raul Benitez-Santana, 33, was found guilty of vehicular homicide and vehicular assault in the death of Washington State Patrol Trooper Christopher Gadd, who was 27 years old when he was killed, reports Fox News.

Gadd was sitting in his patrol cruiser along Interstate 5 in March 2024, monitoring for speeding and impaired drivers, when Benitez-Santana’s vehicle slammed into the back of his car at over 100 miles per hour. Two other vehicles were involved in the crash.

According to Fox Seattle, Benitez-Santana admitted to consuming alcohol and smoking marijuana prior to the incident. Witnesses said he had been swerving across lanes before the collision.

After the fatal crash, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a detainer request for Benitez-Santana with the Snohomish County Jail. ICE confirmed that he is a citizen of Mexico and was in the country illegally.

Benitez-Santana had multiple prior run-ins with law enforcement. He was first encountered by immigration authorities in October 2013 at the South Correctional Entity in Burien, Washington, after an arrest for failing to appear in court for driving on a suspended license.

He was previously convicted of possessing less than 40 grams of marijuana and sentenced to 90 days in May 2013—though 87 of those days were suspended. He was sentenced again in 2014 for another driving offense, and was arrested for domestic violence assault in 2019.

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Charlie Kirk is the Founder and President of Turning Point USA, a national student movement dedicated to empowering young people to promote the principles of free markets and limited government.

Charlie is also the host of “The Charlie Kirk Show” podcast, which regularly ranks among the top-10 news shows on Apple podcast news charts, and is the host of the nationally syndicated daily radio show on the Salem Radio Network live from 12 - 3 PM ET.
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