3 Confirmed Dead In Casa Grande Crash

Border Patrol: Car Fled Traffic Stop At High Speed

POSTED: 11:29 pm MST October 13, 2010
UPDATED: 11:23 am MST October 14, 2010

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CASA GRANDE, Ariz. -- Three people were killed and another hospitalized in critical condition after a rollover accident in Casa Grande, according to a police spokesman.

Deputy Chief Don Daniel said all three fatalities were women. A young girl, about 9 years old, was transported to a Valley hospital in critical condition, he said.

Two other adults, including a man, were injured in the crash, Daniel said. At least one of the two was in the country illegally, he said.

It wasn't clear what led to the crash, although a Border Patrol spokesman said it was the result of a failed traffic stop. Witnesses said the vehicle was traveling at a high rate of speed before it rolled.

Daniel said he could not confirm a pursuit took place. The Border Patrol said agents initially tried to stop the vehicle on the Tohono O'odom Indian reservation, according to Daniel.

Laying on its side, tangled in trees and bushes in a Casa Grande front yard, the Chevrolet S-10 was hardly recognizable.

The truck had rolled several times and burst through a cinder-block fence, killing a young woman at the scene, according to police. The other two victims died at being transported.

Exactly how the crash happened, and who is to blame, depends on who is asked.

Border agents said they first spotted the vehicle outside city limits about eight miles from the crash site.

“They saw something that created suspicion so they attempted to do a vehicle stop," said Omar Candelaria, Border Patrol special operations supervisor. "The vehicle failed to yield and accelerated at high speed.â€