Colorado deputy killed by illegal immigrant in hit-and-run, suspect arrested with her handcuffs
Suspect previously arrested for DUI, had failure to appear warrant before death of deputy Alexis Hein-Nutz
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Weld County, Colorado community is mourning the loss of Deputy Alexis Hein-Nutz who was killed in a hit-and-run while driving to work Sunday, just one week before her 25th birthday.
Capt. Matt Turner of the Weld County North Jail Complex remembered the fallen officer on "Fox & Friends First" Wednesday, telling host Todd Piro that the suspect Octavio Gonzalez-Garcia is an illegal immigrant and suspected of driving drunk.
"This could happen to anybody," he said.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"All of this together made it nearly impossible initially for our people to investigate the crime. They had no clue who was behind the wheel of this car because he fled into a cornfield and disappeared," he added.
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Alexis Hein-Nutz (left) and Octavio Gonzalez-Garcia (right) (Weld County Sheriff’s Office)
Turner revealed that police apprehended Gonzalez-Garcia in another town, but was frustrated that the suspect was not already behind bars.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"From a law enforcement perspective, it's frustrating, but I actually wonder how the community feels about that. How frustrated are they?" he said.
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Piro noted that Gonzalez-Garcia had already been arrested for DUI and had a "failure to appear" warrant out for his arrest.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The crime coincides with growing nationwide concerns over illegal immigration, including a recent Fox News poll finding that 62% of registered voters are "extremely" or "very" concerned about the crisis.
Sept. 9-12 Fox News poll on illegal immigration concerns. (Screenshot/Fox & Friends First)
"I'm holding her handcuffs right now, and I think what that speaks to is that she was a member of a team," Turner added. "She was an energetic person, and I think one thing that really speaks to the loss that we're all experiencing is, over the last 24 hours, one of the inmates that she supervised actually reached out to other deputies and said, ‘Hey, my family would like to donate to the funeral. How do they do this?’"
Turner said other inmates wanted to create art and write letters to express their sympathies to the family.
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"She did her job with integrity and with a goal in mind," he said.
Turner said police arrested Gonzalez-Garcia using Hein-Nutz's handcuffs, which he displayed on the show.