I personally have been affected by this story. I have a 4 year old baby girl full of energy and a love for life. I can not imagine the pain of what this family must be going through. Pray for them.
...Oh one more thing.... The fact that he was illegal appears to have been withheld by the media until after Omahas Mayorial election on Tuesday.. This according to Scott Vorhess on KFAB radio.
This story has more qeustions than answers.
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Published Thursday May 14, 2009
Despite violations, driver wasn't identified as illegal immigrant
BY JUDITH NYGREN AND JASON KUIPER
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITERS
Despite repeated trips through Douglas County?s criminal justice system, Eleazar Rangel-Ochoa wasn?t identified as an illegal immigrant until this week -- after he was accused of causing a west Omaha crash that killed 4-year-old Josie Bluhm.
It isn?t clear exactly how Rangel-Ochoa escaped the notice of authorities for so many years and after so many orders revoking his driving privileges.
But part of the explanation lies in an inability to thoroughly check his documentation the first time he walked into the Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles.
Eleazar Rangel-OchoaRangel-Ochoa, 27, applied for his first Nebraska driver?s license in September 1998. He used a Social Security card, according to state records.
At the time, state employees weren?t able to verify the validity of the Social Security number with a federal database, said DMV Director Beverly Neth. The same was true in June 2000, when Rangel-Ochoa had his license reinstated following his first DUI offense.
It wasn?t until 2001, Neth said, that the state could check the validity of a person?s Social Security number. So when Rangel-Ochoa returned to the DMV in 2004, employees sent him away empty handed.
Rangel-Ochoa no longer had driving privileges. He was convicted in 2003 of his third-offense DUI, prompting a judge to revoke his license for 15 years.
What he needed now, he told DMV employees, was a Nebraksa ID card. Neth said DMV employees told Rangel-Ochoa he couldn?t have one until he contacted the Social Security office and had everything in order. The state has no record of him reapplying for an ID card, Neth said.
Now Rangel-Ochoa sits in the Douglas County Correctional Center with a federal "hold" on him as a suspected illegal immigrant, while an Elkhorn family is left to mourn the death of Josie following Tuesday?s crash.
The pastor for the Bluhm family said the family is devastated by the loss. Josie Bluhm was taken off life support and died Wednesday at 5:50 p.m.
Josie was a passenger in a minivan driven by her mother Jayme Bluhm, 32. The van was struck by a pickup driven by Rangel-Ochoa, who police said ran a red light and slammed into the van.
The crash happened about 7:25 a.m. Tuesday at 180th Street and West Center Road.
George Megard, associate pastor at Lutheran Church of the Master said he was there with the family on Wednesday when Josie died. He said he had been there praying with them.
Megard said it should come as no surprise to anyone how distraught the family is over the crash and loss of Josie.
Luetta Evert, a great-grandmother of Josie, said she?ll remember her as a nice, energetic little girl who played well with her older brother. Evert said she would see them on special days like holidays and always enjoyed it when they came to visit her in West Point, Neb.
Evert, 81, said she last saw the family on Easter though she?s been at the hospital the last two days.
"They are doing about as well as can be expected," Evert said. "It?s just awful. I feel sorry for anyone who has to go through anything like this."
The funeral for Josie will be at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Lutheran Church of the Master?s west campus, 1200 N. 181st Court, which is about a half mile north of West Dodge Road. Visitation with the family will be 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Friday at Reichmuth Funeral Home, 21901 West Maple Road.
Hospital officials said Jayme Bluhm was in fair condition Thursday morning, and Cayden Bluhm, 5, was in serious condition. A third child, Reagan Bluhm, 1, was also taken to the Nebraska Medical Center after the crash and was treated and released.
Jayme Bluhm told police that the three children were properly restrained when she left home. The seats were the appropriate size for the children, according to accident investigators, but it appears Josie wasn?t buckled in when the crash happened.
Rangel-Ochoa also was treated for injuries sustained in the crash.
Police arrested him after he was released and are holding him in jail on suspicion of driving with a suspended license. Police said they do not know his country of origin.
Authorities said Rangel-Ochoa?s license had been suspended and revoked numerous times for offenses ranging in severity from failure to complete driver improvement classes to driving under the influence.
Authorities said they would probably pursue a charge of misdemeanor motor vehicle homicide.
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