Tremont Police Chief Chad Duncan said the Ohio city of Springfield has been in “total chaos” since the arrival of about 20,000 Haitian nationals.
Blaze-News reporter Julio Rosas returned to Tremont City, about eight miles from Springfield, this week to talk to local officials and residents to get their perspective on the impact of the new immigrants.
“They're allowed to drive.”
Duncan told Rosas he was concerned that Springfield was slipping into lawlessness that was spreading to neighboring towns, including Tremont City.
“The city is in total chaos,” he said of Springfield. “Everybody's against everybody.”
One of Duncan's biggest concerns is the increase in traffic accidents caused by Haitian drivers, many of whom do not have driver's licenses, he said.
He told The Blaze News that Tremont police are doing their best to crack down on deadly crashes, but that Springfield seems to be shielding Haitians from actually being punished for reckless driving.
“There are people out there who shouldn't be driving and they're allowing them to drive,” Duncan said.
Duncan told Rosas about a recent traffic stop involving a Haitian national.
“He didn't even have a license,” he said.
Duncan said the driver was traveling 44 mph in a 25 mph speed limit zone in Tremont City.
He said this is the second time in the past two weeks that he has pulled over a driver and had his car towed.
Rosas asked Duncan if Springfield towed the vehicle in that case.
“No,” he answered.
Duncan speculated that Springfield may be reducing or avoiding penalties for reckless driving to protect Haitian nationals from deportation.
“If you commit a misdemeanor twice, you're subject to deportation,” he told The Blaze News.
Duncan added that Springfield's access to police radio frequencies was cut off after the city began to attract national attention because of the migrant crisis.
“We heard them on the radio. They chose to stay silent. We don't know what's going on in the city,” Duncan said.
When asked why the city was making it difficult to communicate, Duncan speculated that Springfield police may have made it impossible for others to listen in on their radio communications to prevent outside scrutiny of their actions and, as a result, potential liability.
Duncan said there had been reports of threats at the school recently, but he didn't hear them on the radio.
“I just heard about it from another chief right next door to the city,” he said.
Duncan explained that city leaders should have responded differently to the influx of Haitian nationals.
“If they had just taken their time instead of worrying about the elite lining their pockets, this would have gone a lot smoother and been a lot more beneficial for all involved,” Duncan said.
When asked how he thought the situation would play out, he replied: “I don't really know what the end result will be, but at the moment it's not good.”
The Blaze-News attempted to contact the Springfield Police Department multiple times for comment, but the non-emergency phone line did not have the option to leave a voicemail and the department did not respond.
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