It has been well over a year since Rene Perez, a homeless immigrant from Guatemala was found dead. George Bubaris, a former police officer in the area was accused of second-degree manslaughter, unlawful imprisonment and official misconduct and was found not guilty.

There was evidence of a pattern and practice of immigrant deaths in the area that pointed to law enforcement. Mt. Kisco is an upscale neighborhood with a new influx of immigrants, the perfect breeding ground for racial violence.

The county medical examiner had ruled the death a homicide, saying that the man, Rene Javier Perez, had died of internal abdominal injuries. Prosecutors said that Mr. Bubaris had inflicted those injuries by punching Mr. Perez.

The prosecution, Mr. Quinn said, also contended that Mr. Perez’s injuries were sustained within the two hours before his death. “We introduced evidence to show that the injuries were inflicted 6 to 36 hours before” he died, Mr. Quinn said.

Just as important, he said, was the fact that the defense established that the injuries were “equally consistent with a fall” as with a beating. Mr. Bubaris, 31, who resigned from the Police Department after he was charged, originally came under suspicion because he was the last person seen with Mr. Perez.

Mr. Perez, 42, was homeless, had a history of alcoholism and a long arrest record for petty crimes, according to medical and court records.

The case heightened racial tensions in the area, even my earlier posting about the death of Perez and at least two other immigrants under similar circumstances drew a reaction blaming “those damned illegals” for sucking off the government’s teet. Some felt that Bubaris was scapegoated. Others expressed surprised that the officer was acquitted, siding with the prosecution’s case that used police call logs, surveillance video and other evidence showed that only Mr. Bubaris could have taken Mr. Perez to the lonely roadside where he was found dying. Some remembered Sean Bell and drew parallels.

A better parallel would be the 1995 death by beating of homeless Ecuadorian immigrant Manuel Aucaquizhpi. While it was local youths in the area who were accused and subsequently acquitted of major charges in the Dyker Heights, Brooklyn case, this death was also about a clash of the immigrant economy on which predominantly white, upper middle class take advantage of, so long as the immigrants know their place. As soon as their is a social problem, like the homeless immigrants, or alcoholism, then the immigrants become a “problem” and somthing that need to be “cleaned” from the community.

As the anti-immigrant rhetoric gets turned up higher, the sad reality is that these sorts of deaths, mysteriously beaten immigrant workers who outlived their use, according to some, will continue to happen.

Via / NYT, Lower Hudson Journal ,