Authorities recover drugs after suspect makes death-defying escape
Zack Quaintance
February 21, 2008 - 5:59PM
MISSION — Authorities pulled a car packed with drugs from the bank of the Rio Grande in Anzalduas County Park on Thursday morning after a suspected drug smuggler made a spectacular escape from police.

About 8:30 p.m. Wednesday, an Hidalgo County sheriff’s deputy spotted a white Mercury Grand Marquis traveling into the park with its lights off. About twenty minutes later, the deputy saw it leave the park, Sheriff Lupe Treviño said.

The deputy tried to pull the car over near the intersection of Shary Road and Old Military Highway. The driver pulled a U-turn there and sped back into the park, crashing through a pole gate.

Several deputies pursued the car at speeds estimated at more than 80 mph. The car ramped off a levee into the river, flying an estimated 50 feet above the water before plunging into the river, the sheriff said.

“I’m surprised he wasn’t killed,â€