Teen Dies After Hit-And-Run, Driver Was Drunk

ST. JOSPEH COUNTY (NEWSCHANNEL 3) - He was not supposed to be living or working in West Michigan. That's only adding to the heartache of a deadly hit and run.

The death of a Mendon teenager has now turned the case against this illegal immigrant in a much more serious direction. Daniel Turner, 14, passed away Monday night.

A car hit him Sunday evening while Turner and a friend were walking home from a store on M-60 between Three Rivers and Mendon. Officers tracked their suspect through the snow.

Sergio Onofre is an illegal immigrant who worked at a Kalamazoo greenhouse. Under legislation that just passed this year, illegal immigrants are not supposed to be driving or even have a license.

Even the Secretary of State's office had a wrong birthdate for this suspect and spelled his name differently.

But now in custody, Sergio Onofre could spend many years in prison.

“It's very frustrating,” said Sheriff Matt Lori of the St. Joseph County Sheriff's Department.

That's the only way Sheriff Lori in St. Joseph County could describe it: the struggle his deputies often have in finding information about people here illegally.

“Trying to track forms of identification down, try to verify names, social security numbers, dates of birth, it's a big problem,” said Sheriff Lori.

Even Tuesday, a magistrate had two dates of birth for Sergio Onofre. What is certain is Sergio's facing several felony charges in the death of Daniel Turner. Investigators say Sergio didn't have a license.

They say the car he was driving drunk on M-60 wasn't registered and had invalid plates. It's Sergio's second D.W.I. It's also the second time he got stopped for driving without a license.

The sheriff says past offenses can help his deputies, by putting fingerprints on file. Otherwise, verifying just who these suspects are takes time.

“It takes an awful lot of work, an awful lot of manpower to verify that, not only on our end, but border patrol,” said Sheriff Lori.

Sergio Onofre told a magistrate Monday he'd only been in the country four to six months. But he has driving violations that date back a year and a half. Now he's in the st. Joseph county jail.