In December 2015, Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, the chief suspect in Tuesday’s New York City terror attack, was stopped by the Missouri Highway Patrol and cited for his failure to maintain the brake system required in a motor carrier.
Saipov came to the United States on what is called a “Diversity Visa.” This permanent resident visa is distributed by lottery to applicants from countries with low recent rates of immigration. Saipov’s native Uzbekistan would seem to one of those countries, which suggests it might be time to rethink eligibility requirements.
After being stopped in Platte County, Saipov blew off the ticket. In April 2016, a warrant was issued for his arrest. It finally caught up with him in Tampa, Florida. In October 2016, he turned himself in, posting a $200 bond at the Saint Charles County Jail. The bond covered his ticket and court costs and spared him an overnight stay in said jail.
Retired FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael Tabman told fox4kc said Saipov’s offense in Missouri was a misdemeanor, which would not have put him on anyone’s watch list.
“Now when they’ve taken the low tech way of attacking people getting in a vehicle and just going after defenseless innocent citizens, there’s really not much we can do to predict that or to stop that,” said Tabman.
The fact that there has been several other lethal truck attacks in the last year or two–Barcelona, Nice, and the London Bridge among others–has yet to create any sustained sense of alarm among authorities about just who gets to drive a truck. Nor, in an ideal world, should it.
The truck as weapon, however, creates a problem for those ideologues who prefer to excuse the suspect and blame not only the weapon, but also the people who support the weapon’s proper use. For those progressives who rush to politicize tragedy, this crime has no silver lining.
