South Carolina mother billed for street cleaning, vehicle removal after undocumented immigrant kills her son in drunk driving accident

Saturday, July 07, 2012 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
Tags: drunk driving, cleaning, costs

(NaturalNews) A South Carolina mother has had to cover the costs associated with cleanup after an undocumented immigrant living in the area struck and killed her son while driving drunk. WYFF4.com in Greenville reports that Loretta Robinson was billed for the towing and storage of her son Justin's car, as well as for street cleaning to clean up his blood, despite the fact that the man was the victim and not at fault.

Anna Gonzalez, who has been living in the Greenville area for about 12 years, was driving without a license about a year ago when she struck Justin's car, killing him on impact. Gonzalez had never, in fact, ever obtained a South Carolina driver's license while living in the area. She pleaded guilty recently to the charges filed against her, and is now serving a 17-year prison sentence.

But the sentence does not necessarily address the costs that Robinson is now being forced to pay as a result of Gonzalez' negligent behavior. And since the woman is now in prison, Robinson believes she likely will not receive any compensation from Gonzalez to cover these costs, which adds insult to injury in an already heartbreaking situation.

"I had to pay to have the vehicle towed. I had to pay to have the vehicle removed. And to clean up the street from Justin's blood," said Robinson in a courtroom before both the judge and Gonzalez. "We have to be able in our country to figure out a better way to deal with people who are here illegally and commit crimes," added Robinson later to WYFF4.com.

The South Carolina State Office of Victim Assistance (SOVA) has provided some financial assistance to Robinson that covers funeral and counseling expenses, but this has not been enough to cover the other costs. Many compassionate residents living in the Greenville area, however, have offered to help Robinson and her family, as evidenced by the many comments left over at WYFF4.com.

On the other hand, it appears as though the vehicle Robinson's son was driving at the time of his death may not have been properly insured, which is why Robinson even received these bills in the first place. The tow truck driver who issued Robinson the $50 cleaning charge later told WYFF4.com that neither party had car insurance.

Sources for this article include:

http://www.wyff4.com

http://www.huffingtonpost.com

http://www.wyff4.com