Posted on 02/03/2004 4:19:06 PM PST by SandRat
DOUBLE ADOBE - A collision between a horse and a vehicle on Sunday led to the animal's death and the rescue of three illegal immigrants from the trunk of the car.
While traffic was being slowed because of the accident, another van with illegal immigrants was stopped.
Around 7 p.m. Sunday, a Cochise County sheriff's deputy was trying round up some horses that were on Frontier Road near Highway 80 when a 1995 Dodge suddenly hit one of the animals, Sheriff's Department spokeswoman Carol Capas said Monday afternoon.
The impact caused major damage to the front of the car and the hood.
The driver and a passenger in the car fled. When the deputy approached the car, he heard noises coming from the trunk. When he opened the trunk, he found three injured illegal immigrants, Capas said.
The deputy also was approached by another Mexican national who said he was the passenger in the car and needed medical treatment, too, Capas said.
The four people, identified as Marsieleno Sanchez, 22, Margarita Tadeo, 25, Maria Espinosa 26, and Gildardo Herrera, 17, were taken to the Copper Queen Community Hospital in Bisbee, where they were treated and then turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol, she said. Herrera, Tadeo and Espinosa were in the car's trunk.
Andy Adame, spokesman for the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector, said an agent tracked footprints left by the alleged driver and concluded the person eventually got into another vehicle.
While other sheriff's deputies and Arizona Department of Public Safety officers were performing traffic control at the accident scene, a van was stopped, Adame said. Seventeen illegal immigrants, all Mexican nationals, were inside the van and were taken into custody by the Border Patrol.
The 17 people were processed and returned to Mexico, Adame said. The van, registered to a Douglas resident, has been seized.
Quick someone call PETA! </sarcasm
What a shame. I really like horses.
I'm sure they are on their way back as I type this...
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