Pursued SUV with more than 20 people (illegal) overturns

SignonSanDiego.com ^ | September 29, 2003

[Sweet_Sunflower29]

An SUV believed to be carrying illegal immigrants evaded U.S. Border Patrol agents, then overturned on a desert highway, killing four people and leaving 17 others injured, authorities said.

Helicopters airlifted the injured to three hospitals and the highway briefly was closed.

The Chevrolet Suburban rolled over about 5:30 p.m. Sunday on westbound Highway 78 in Imperial County, about 20 miles north of the border, said Border Patrol spokesman William Robbins.

The driver, who was pinned behind the wheel, was taken to a hospital and was placed in custody, Robbins said. The driver, whose name was undetermined, may be arrested for smuggling and endangerment, he said.

Robbins said agents had signaled the sport utility vehicle with their lights and tried to stop it with a spike strip on a rural road near the highway. But the Suburban swerved around the tire deflation device and continued west.

After agents saw the driver continue, they stopped their pursuit, but followed the SUV at a distance in case it dropped off passengers, Robbins said.

Mexican officials in the past have criticized U.S. enforcement agencies for high-speed pursuits of suspected illegal immigrants. In March, two men died and 20 people were injured when a truck swerved to miss a California Highway Patrol spike strip and crashed on Interstate 8.

On Sunday, a game warden at Pichaco State Park saw undocumented immigrants being loaded into two vehicles. The park is heavily used by illegal immigrants trying to avoid a border patrol checkpoint near Andrade.

The vehicles circumvented the checkpoint, but authorities pursued them. Border Patrol agents discovered the Suburban a few miles ahead overturned with "bodies all over," Robbins said.

The second vehicle was found empty farther along the highway and those passengers were being sought.

An investigation was ongoing. Names of the dead and injured were not immediately determined by authorities.

The Border Patrol and CHP were interviewing the injured.

Robbins said agents were aware of past pursuit crashes and acted cautiously.

"We don't want to stay on top of them because we don't want to cause an accident," he said of ending pursuits.

The crash Sunday was the latest in a series of accidents involving smuggling of illegal immigrants that have left more than a dozen people dead in the last two years. In January, three women were killed and 12 people were injured when a pickup truck ran over a spike strip and then crashed into a guardrail. Last year, a van full of undocumented immigrants was traveling the wrong way in an attempt to evade a Border Patrol checkpoint when it struck four oncoming vehicles, killing six and injuring 16.

[dirtboy]

Geez, I've never been able to get more than 8 or 9 teenagers in my Suburban...what am I doing wrong?

You're not stacking them like cordwood...

[joesnuffy]

this is awefull...
The borders need to be opened to all people who want to come here and better themselves -all should be allowed into America at any time & anywhere...In fact we should just build railroads and transport them by tax payer funded amtrack club cars (with fully stocked bars)

And for these immigrants the people of the USA should gladly pay for education, medical, food ,dental ,& buy them homes and cars
-give them "good" jobs (with day care), honor any and all their religons & maintain any native cultures they bring with them -and make sure that they all have at a minimum...a half way decent above ground pool

[Pro-Bush]

The tone of this article is anti Border Patrol and apologetic towards illegals. What a shame.

[libstripper]

I own a Navigator, a little smaller than you vehicle. The Nav is rated for about 1,400 lb of carrying capacity. Yours is probably rated for a bit more, being somewhat larger. In either case this vehicle was massively overloaded, meaning it was an accident waiting to happen. No reson to view the incident as being anything but the result of the driver's gross negligence.

[Rick Deckard]

Technically speaking, shotguns are allowed for duck hunting at Picacho SRA. When I'm in the park proper, I keep my firearms out of sight. I have asked the staff there about areas to go target shooting. They told me that I just need to be outside park boundries. No one has ever asked me what I have in my truck. "Don't ask, Don't tell"?

[hattend]

An SUV believed to be carrying illegal immigrants evaded U.S. Border Patrol agents, then overturned on a desert highway, killing four people and leaving 17 others injured, authorities said.

Ambulance chasing lawyers descended on the crash scene moments later...illegals soon to be America's newest millionaires.

[NewRomeTacitus]

Hey Joe, you forgot the former software engineer to clean that above-ground pool.
The "Free(dom) Ride" jerks are in my town today (Nashville). I finally get a chance to put that bad stuff from the fridge to some use.

[oldironsides]

The New York State Police stopped a van that had been weaving on the highway. When they stopped the female driver, they found Asian illegals headed for New York City.
They came through Canada. There are American drivers waiting to dump them into New York. It is said they were stacked like sardines. That was the one the police found. Imagine how many get through daily?

[taxed2death]

...meanwhile, Tom Ridge tells Americans, the borders can't be sealed off effectively because of "cultural and political" reasons.

Homeland Insecurity bump.

[Barnacle]

An SUV believed to be carrying illegal immigrants evaded U.S. Border Patrol agents, then overturned on a desert highway, killing four people and leaving 17 others injured, authorities said.

Damn, those SUVs really are dangerous!

[Rick Deckard]

"...the borders can't be sealed off effectively because of 'cultural and political' reasons"?



We're letting our nation's borders remain as porous as a sieve while we worry about offending others? The frontline Border Patrol agents are doing what they can, but somebody higher up the chain is letting this happen.

[dirtboy]

Damn, those SUVs really are dangerous!

Yeah, and putting 21 people into one will make it a tad bit topheavy...

[Allegra]

Mexican officials in the past have criticized U.S. enforcement agencies for high-speed pursuits of suspected illegal immigrants.

Why should we care what officials of a third-world country have to say about our enforcement agencies? They should shut their yaps and keep their criminals at home where they belong.

[MissAmericanPie]

We should demand that the cost come directly out of the pockets of politicians that refuse to uphold our laws. In fact that would be a very good bill to pass.

[janetgreen]

Good idea! George Bush can pay the first installment.

[FITZ]

I have a feeling we're going to start seeing more and more agressive incidents along the border. These people are being told they have every right to be here, that this is really their land and that the evil gringos stole the land from Mexico and that it's the gringos who need to leave.

[TLI]

These people are being told they have every right to be here, that this is really their land and that the evil gringos stole the land from Mexico and that it's the gringos who need to leave.

That is what got a shooting war started the first time the subject came up.

Worked once, ought to work again . . .