Each of his sisters had not too long ago given delivery, so in January 2022, Daniel Adrian Barajas was driving from Kentucky to Dallas, Texas, to satisfy his new niece and nephew. Barajas, a 38-year-old specialty welder, didn’t make it past Saline County, Arkansas, the place his household says native legislation enforcement detained, searched after which “deserted” him on Interstate 30.
Daniel Barajas was fatally — and mysteriously — struck by two automobiles and an 18-wheeler exterior of Little Rock within the early morning hours of January 15, 2022. Barajas was reportedly on foot on or close to the interstate when the crash occurred, his car apparently nonetheless sitting on a close-by on-ramp the place a pair of sheriff’s deputies left Barajas after looking his belongings with a drug-sniffing canine.
No medicine have been discovered, and essential proof from the native coroner’s report — together with Barajas’s automotive keys, pockets and money field — has gone lacking, in response to Michael Laux, a civil rights lawyer for the Barajas household.
“I’ve by no means encountered a thriller deeper, extra perplexing and extra tragic than the thriller that shrouds this incident involving Daniel Barajas,” Laux mentioned in a press convention on Tuesday, including that he has litigated a number of officer-involved deaths.
Initial police and native media reports establish Barajas as a “pedestrian” and recommend he suffered a tragic accident or maybe a suicide, however his household says he was joyful and wholesome and they’re pointing fingers on the police. After studying that legislation enforcement wrongly suspected Barajas of being a drug trafficker even after his loss of life, the Barajas household and their lawyer worry he was the sufferer of racial profiling and “foul play” by native authorities in Saline County.
Up to now, no physique digital camera footage or images from the scene of the crash have been launched to the general public. Now, 18 months after dropping a loyal uncle and brother, the Barajas household has teamed up with a significant civil rights group to demand solutions.
“We consider that Daniel’s loss of life was characterised as suicide in order that the coroner would decide the style of loss of life was suicide, which makes it exponentially tougher for this household to get the solutions that they search,” Laux mentioned. “We suspect that there’s lots of people concerned with this.”
In response to Laux, two Arkansas state troopers reported discovering Barajas asleep on the wheel in the course of an on-ramp round 4:30 within the morning. This doesn’t make sense, Laux mentioned, as a result of Barajas was a seasoned traveler who usually drove lengthy hours to welding jobs. Badges for getting into safe worksites have been inside his automotive.
“Proper from the primary second they thought he was a drug trafficker,” Laux mentioned. “Why? As a result of he’s Latino.”
Laux instructed it’s extra probably Barajas was pulled over by police, or he was parked on the shoulder and taking a nap when police awoke him with their flashlights and shortly referred to as a Ok-9 unit to go looking the automotive for medicine. He famous that police reviews on the incident have been written and filed after his loss of life and are probably “nugatory,” apart from a few statements precisely noting that Barajas had some hassle along with his eyesight.
“Proper from the primary second they thought he was a drug trafficker,” Laux mentioned. “Why? As a result of he’s Latino.”
Laux mentioned reviews filed by Saline County Sherriff’s Workplace and native first responders are contradictory, with the cops reporting that Barajas was hallucinating and probably suicidal. Nonetheless, Laux mentioned a medical workforce discovered Barajas sober and alert, and each a background examine and drug search turned up no proof of a criminal offense.
As a substitute of letting Barajas go, the police mentioned they instructed Barajas look forward to a experience from his “girlfriend” earlier than leaving him on the on-ramp, in response to Laux. The Saline County Sheriff’s Division and coroner’s workplace didn’t reply to requests for remark by the point this story was printed.
“Why was he not free to go away? He was cleared by the paramedics,” Laux mentioned. “What’s the authorized center floor between arrest and freedom? The reply is: there’s none.”
With out eyewitness testimony, particulars of what really occurred to Daniel Barajas on the fateful morning stay a thriller. Laux is encouraging anybody with data to contact the legal advocacy team.
We do know that legislation enforcement in each Arkansas and Texas appeared for proof that Barajas was a drug trafficker even after his loss of life — proof that his household mentioned by no means existed, as a result of Barajas was not a drug seller however a sufferer of racist policing.
A couple of days after her brother’s loss of life, Xexilia Barajas heard a knock at her door in Dallas. Daniel had by no means arrived to see his niece and nephew, and the Barajas household was apprehensive sick. On the door was a Texas state trooper, who knowledgeable Xexilia Barajas that her brother died throughout a site visitors collision in Arkansas.
That information was heartbreaking, however the remainder didn’t make sense. The Texas trooper requested Xexilia Barajas if her brother was on his approach to her home, as Daniel Barajas had presumably instructed the deputies who searched his automotive. Xexilia Barajas confirmed that her brother was certainly on his approach to go to.
The trooper then requested if Daniel Barajas was a “drug runner,” his sister mentioned. Xexilia Barajas was surprised and instantly pushed again. She insists Daniel Barajas was a loving household man and a profitable skilled, not a drug trafficker. Profiling him as such was racist and finally lethal.
“I’ve my potential to cause and query once more, and I’ve realized that this story ends the way in which it does as a result of they thought he was a drug runner,” Xexilia Barajas mentioned, combating again tears. “Think about in the event that they thought he was a physician, someone else, anyone else … he wouldn’t have ended up like this if he was a golden retriever on the aspect of the street.”
Months later, the Barajas household would study that officers with the Saline County Sheriff’s Division detained Daniel for over an hour whereas they searched his automotive for medicine – they discovered nothing. But he walked onto the freeway and was struck by a number of automobiles simply minutes after police say they drove away from the scene.
The Barajas household is represented by the League of United Latin American Residents (LULAC), a civil rights group that’s calling for a nationwide investigation into racial profiling of Latinos touring U.S. highways, and demanding federal protections for interstate vacationers. The group says Latinos are 2.5 occasions extra more likely to get stopped by police than white drivers and have a lot greater possibilities of being wrongfully searched, having possessions seized or being victimized by a false arrest.
“Let me be clear to all legislation enforcement officers who see Latino vacationers on a piece of an interstate crossing their jurisdiction: We is not going to be your ATM, simple targets, or abuse victims,” mentioned LULAC Nationwide President Domingo Garcia.
Raquel Barajas mentioned her brother was liked by pals and colleagues and would do something for his household, which is strictly why he was on Interstate 30 early within the morning. He was excited to satisfy his niece and nephew, however the authorities in Saline County created a “nightmare” that no household ought to endure.
“Everybody desires to know what occurred to Daniel Barajas,” Raquel Barajas mentioned. “What the police say occurred is just not the reality … and we are going to do something to get the reality.”
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