Suspect in Colts player’s death faces immigration charge

INDIANAPOLIS (AP) – Federal authorities have filed a new immigration charge against a Guatemalan man who has twice been deported from the U.S. and is now suspected in a drunken-driving crash that killed Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson and another man.

U.S. Attorney Josh Minkler announced the immigration charge late Tuesday, ahead of an expected announcement by Marion County prosecutors on Wednesday on possible charges against Manuel Orrego-Savala for the Sunday night crash in Indiana.

Orrego-Savala, 37, was arrested following the crash along Interstate 70 in Indianapolis. Investigators said Jackson, 26, and his Uber driver, 54-year-old Jeffrey Monroe, were standing outside Monroe’s car when they were struck and killed by a pickup truck driven by Orrego-Savala.

Orrego-Savala was deported in 2007 and 2009, and was again living illegally in the U.S. at the time of the crash, according to investigators.

He was charged in Tuesday’s federal criminal complaint with illegal re-entry of a previously deported alien. He faces up to 10 years in prison on the immigration charge, which the U.S. attorney’s office said would be handled after any state charges are resolved.

President Donald Trump drew added attention to the case on Twitter, calling the highway collision that killed Jackson and Monroe “disgraceful.” The president also prodded Democrats to work with him on illegal immigration and border security.

A spokesman for Jackson’s family has said his relatives are devastated and planned no response to Trump’s tweets about the crash and the suspect’s immigration status.

“The family is in shock, as you can imagine. This obviously happened so unexpectedly,” Atlanta attorney Daniel Meachum said.

Investigators said they believe Orrego-Savala was intoxicated at the time of the Indiana crash.

Orrego-Savala had a 2005 conviction for driving under the influence in Redwood City, California. He also has numerous other misdemeanor convictions and arrests in California and Indiana, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Nicole Alberico.

In the 2005 case, he pleaded no contest to two separate drunken-driving offenses and was given a brief jail sentence, San Mateo County District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said Tuesday.

Orrego-Savala remains jailed in Indianapolis. Federal prosecutors spell his name as Orrego-Zavala, but the federal criminal compliant lists “Orrego-Savala” as among his aliases.

He appeared Tuesday before a judge who advised him of his rights. Indianapolis television station WRTV reported that Orrego-Savala told the judge through an interpreter: “I wasn’t driving the car. I don’t know why I am here.”

A police news release did not mention the presence of anyone else in the pickup truck.

This photo provided by the Indiana State Police shows, Manuel Orrego-Savala, a citizen of Guatemala, who is be held in a suspected drunken driving crash that killed Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018, along Interstate 70 in Indianapolis. Police say that Orrego-Savala, who gave a fake name following the Sunday accident, has twice been deported from the U.S. (Indiana State Police via AP)

FILE – In this Nov. 20, 2016 file photo, Indianapolis Colts linebacker Edwin Jackson (53) walks off the field following an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans in Indianapolis. Jackson, 26, was one of two men killed when a suspected drunken driver struck them as they stood outside their car along a highway in Indianapolis. The Colts said in a statement Sunday, Feb. 4, 3018, that the team is “heartbroken” by Jackson’s death. Authorities say the driver that struck them before dawn on Sunday tried to flee on foot but was quickly captured. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings, File)