A human smuggler who killed four people, including a seven-year-old girl, while fleeing Texas law enforcement in 2023 is going to be behind bars for life.
Of course, I happen to prefer that we bring back the death penalty for killers, though the firing squad is obviously much more effective and efficient than lethal injection. That way, American taxpayers don’t have to support murderers for decades. But at least there was the next best level of justice in Rassian Nateray Comer‘s case. While he did not set out to be a killer, he was a human smuggler who was engaging in deliberately reckless and dangerous behavior in order to avoid the consequences of his very serious crime. And that resulted in a deadly crash where he killed two of his smuggled passengers, as well as a grandmother and her granddaughter who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Even worse, Comer was live streaming his high-speed flight from a Texas Department of Public Safety trooper just before he caused the fatal crash on March 13, 2023, according to a Department of Homeland Security press release. Comer had been going over 100 miles an hour, and even showed his speedometer reading 105 mph as part of his live stream.
The chase ended in Ozona when Comer ran a red light and struck a pickup truck driven by Maria Tambunga, who had her 7-year-old granddaughter Emilia Brooke Tambunga with her. The crash killed both of them as well as two of the 11 [Mexican] illegal aliens in Comer’s vehicle, while the other nine illegal aliens suffered serious injuries. Comer was arrested at the scene, admitting that it was his fourth smuggling trip, and also admitting to possessing a stolen handgun that was found in his vehicle.
The sentence of life in prison came down at the end of September this year. Comer had pled guilty to “one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death, 11 counts of transportation of an illegal alien resulting in death, and one count of possession of a stolen firearm.”
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Comer, interestingly, is in fact a United States citizen from Louisiana. It is not unusual for human smuggling networks to include one or a few American citizens because they have genuine IDs, and can therefore provide the illusion of legitimacy. And as we know from the massive anti-ICE riots, too many American citizens think they are virtuous or clever for helping criminal foreigners break the law. Comer was almost certainly making a good bit of money off his smuggling, too.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said, “No sentence can restore what was lost, but it does send a clear message: when criminals gamble with human lives, we will respond with the full weight of the federal government to ensure victims receive justice.”
DHS investigation was what led to the conviction. “This horrific tragedy is almost beyond words,” said Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin. “This monster was already trying to cause more chaos and destruction by smuggling illegal aliens into this country, then decided to lead police on a high-speed chase that claimed the lives of a grandmother and her granddaughter. Maria Tambunga and Emilia Brooke Tambunga should still be alive today, and they would be if it weren’t for this criminal who endangered so many lives just for profit.” One hopes that Comer will never be able to harm innocent lives again.