NEW: Immigrant feared deportation, didn’t stop following fatal wreck

May 02--BOYNTON BEACH -- After a wreck early Sunday, a 21-year-old motorcyclist is dead, a Mexican man faces criminal charges and possible deportation and the debate over immigration policy remains as inflamed as ever.

Brandon Wesson of Palm Beach Gardens died after his motorcycle hit a pickup that was turning from Hypoluxo Road north onto Lawrence Road, Boynton Beach police said. The truck was driven by Victor Villanueva Rivera, a 48-year-old Mexican citizen who has been in the United States illegally for 27 years.

Wesson was thrown from his bike, and he was dead by the time Boynton Beach Fire Rescue crews arrived. Villanueva Rivera, fearful of being caught driving without a license, kept going, city police said. He dragged part of Wesson's motorcycle behind his truck about 1,400 feet, and fluid leaking from the front wheel assembly led police to the man's home off Lawrence Road north of the crash site.

Villanueva Rivera faces charges of leaving the scene of a fatal wreck and driving without a valid license. He told police he doesn't have a license because he is in the U.S. illegally.

In light of the driver's illegal status and his seemingly heartless decision to leave the scene, advocates for immigrants fear the episode could fuel calls for harsher enforcement of immigration policies.

"Of course, any time an undocumented (person) commits a crime, there's a backlash," said Aileen Josephs, an immigration attorney in West Palm Beach. "That's the tragic thing."

Since President Donald Trump's surprise victory in the Nov. 8 election, illegal immigrants have been on edge. Trump famously vowed to build a wall the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border, and he kicked off his campaign by saying some Mexican immigrants are "rapists."

Villanueva Rivera's failure to stop at the scene of the fatal crash engendered little sympathy.

"This only proves Trump's point why we need the wall!" one Palm Beach Post reader wrote on Facebook.

During a court hearing Monday, Villanueva Rivera's defense attorney stressed to Judge Caroline Shepherd that Villanueva Rivera has been in the U.S. for 27 years and has no criminal history. He has seven children, the attorney said, all living in the U.S. Villanueva Rivera's children were in court but declined to comment following the hearing.

Shepherd ordered Villanueva Rivera to post a $35,000 bond before being released on house arrest. She also ordered him not to drive.

Wesson, for his part, loved motorcycles. He rode one most days to Mario the Baker, the Royal Palm Beach pizzeria where he worked, his boss said. And most days Kevin Puebla reminded his employee about the dangers of riding.

Villanueva Rivera's defense attorney said in court that Wesson might have been speeding before the wreck. Boynton Beach police declined to comment on whether the motorcyclist was speeding, saying their investigation was not yet complete. Police arrested Villanueva Rivera for reportedly driving about a mile from the wreck and failing to notify anyone about the crash -- not on allegations that he was at fault.

Wesson's boss, Puebla, said motorcycles were the 21-year-old's "thing. ... (He) lived for motorcycles."

Wesson made garlic rolls and worked the counter at Mario the Baker, Puebla said, and had done so for about eight months.

That was Wesson's second job, Puebla said, which he worked to help his sister and her children.

"He's really a well-respected kid and just all-around good person, very caring," Puebla said. "(He'd) do anything for anybody."

And he worked hard, Puebla said, "unlike most other 21-year-old kids you'll meet." Wesson "learned anything you taught him," Puebla said.

Wesson landed the gig at the pizza place, in part, thanks to his longtime friend Joey Ippolito.

The two met in sixth grade at Western Pines Middle School, Ippolito said, and had been inseparable ever since.

Ippolito woke up Sunday to dozens of missed calls and texts. The friend with whom he spent every day with had died, the texts read.

"I'm gonna be missing a part of me," Ippolito said.

Meanwhile, advocates for immigrants were left with the uncomfortable reality of an otherwise-respectable immigrant behaving badly. Josephs said she advises immigrants always to follow the law -- and in the case of Sunday morning's crash, the driver had a moral obligation to stop, even if he feared punishment.

"It's a real tragedy for the man on the motorcycle, and the gentleman who hit him should not have left the scene," Josephs said. "He would have been better off stopping, calling the police and showing that he cared."

Florida doesn't issue driver's licenses to undocumented immigrants, and in sprawling Palm Beach County, immigrants often drive illegally.

"It's not New York City or Boston, where there's public transportation," Josephs said. "It's easy to tell them not drive, but it's easier said than done."

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