Free Republic

PINE VALLEY – California Highway Patrol officers intercepted a large SUV Wednesday night on Interstate 8 that had been heavily modified to smuggle both drugs and illegal immigrants. Five of the seven people inside the white Chevrolet Suburban were taken into custody and nearly 700 pounds of marijuana was confiscated, but not before the driver fled the wrong way on Interstate 8 and deliberately rammed a CHP patrol car head-on, said CHP Officer Brian Pennings. The driver was one of the two occupants of the vehicle who escaped, he said. There were no injuries reported in the incident.