Posted on 06/25/2002 10:30:36 AM PDT by Tancredo Fan
6 killed, 30 hurt in I-8 crash
Van carrying migrants was going wrong way
By Pauline Repard and Brian Hazle
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITERS
June 25, 2002
At least six people were killed last night when a van full of undocumented immigrants driving the wrong way with its headlights off slammed head-on into a sport utility vehicle on Interstate 8 west of Buckman Springs Road.
Motorists reported the wrong-way driver at 9 p.m. heading west in eastbound lanes, the California Highway Patrol said.
CHP spokesman Steve Lopez said the van's lights were off, probably to evade a Border Patrol checkpoint.
The van sideswiped two sedans before it hit the SUV head-on and pushed it down a brushy embankment. The SUV driver was killed instantly and a female passenger was seriously injured, according to a CHP spokesman.
About 30 people were injured, and six of them were transported to area hospitals by medical helicopters. The choppers landed on the freeway to remove the victims.
The van carried about 20 passengers, Lopez said. The driver of the van and four passengers were dead at the scene.
Eastbound traffic was diverted to Sunrise Highway. Westbound traffic also was detoured at Buckman Springs Road so emergency vehicles could use those freeway lanes, Lopez said.
Westbound motorists, halted at the Border Patrol checkpoint, were turned around and rerouted east to the Buckman Springs off-ramp. The westbound lanes reopened about 11:45 p.m., but the eastbound lanes remained closed past midnight.
Scores of emergency personnel tended the dead and injured, and at least nine ambulances and helicopters transported them to six area hospitals, a CHP dispatcher said.
The immigrants in the van were from Mexico and Brazil, Lopez said.
The wounded inundated area trauma centers as paramedics and Border Patrol agents transported 24 people to six hospitals.
Fire crews returning from a 130-acre fire several miles east of the accident scene assisted with the rescue efforts and tended to the injured.
Seven people were taken to Grossmont Hospital and four to Sharp Memorial Hospital, where a hospital spokeswoman said their injuries were not life-threatening.
Spokesmen at several other area hospitals said only that they were handling multiple trauma cases.
This is the second recent serious accident involving a van load of undocumented immigrants. In May, 15 people were injured when a full van crashed into a boulder on state Route S2 near state Route 78.
Now you've gone and hurt their feelings. These weren't illegal aliens. They were "undocumented immigrants." It says so right there in black and white.
EBUCK
The illegal aliens in the van were from Mexico and Brazil, Lopez said.
This is the second recent serious accident involving a van load of undocumented immigrants.
This is the second recent serious accident involving a van load of illegal aliens.
Much better. Nothing like using the proper wording when telling a story.
Abrams... with night-vision capabilities.
I voted for Bush with much enthusiasm, and prayed for him every day during the Floriduh nightmare...and now with every passing day I just feel more and more bitter and betrayed. We have become a land of chaos and corruption, and it grows worse each day.
Maybe I'm guilty of linguistic parsing, but I'm afraid of what it means if we define down terror. Or have we already?
Eddie01
I lived in San Diego from 1989-1991, and even that long ago accidents involving illegal (and of course, uninsured) aliens were commonplace. Almost everyone I knew had been in an accident with an uninsured Mexican. I felt lucky that I survived for two years without being in such an accident.
I hope the family of the victims of this crash sue the hell out of Gray Davis and the U.S. government for failing to keep these dangerous drivers out of California!
Very, very dumb.
The SUV driver was killed instantly and a female passenger was seriously injured, according to a CHP spokesman.
Very, very sad.
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