Thread: Border agent jumps into van, prevents plunge

CRIME AND FIRE WATCH: REGIONAL EDITION
Border agent jumps into van, prevents plunge


UNION-TRIBUNE

July 14, 2007

EAST COUNTY: A Border Patrol agent got behind the wheel of a driverless van carrying suspected illegal immigrants and kept it from plummeting off a 50-foot embankment early Thursday, the agency said yesterday.
The Mazda van, carrying 12 people, was spotted by agents shortly after midnight Thursday going west on Old Highway 80 near Kitchen Creek Road east of Buckman Springs. An Acura sedan with two people rode nearby, Border Patrol agent Richard Smith said.

The agents attempted to stop the van but it sped away, turned around and headed east.

Agents in unmarked cars followed the van until it reached Miller Valley Road west of Boulevard. There, the driver jumped from the vehicle, leaving the van in gear and heading toward a rocky cliff.

The agent got into the driver's seat and stopped the van before it plunged off the road, the agency said. None of the passengers was wearing a seat belt.

A second agent fell down the embankment as he tried to catch the driver. He suffered knee and back injuries and facial cuts and was taken to a hospital.

The van driver and passengers were arrested. They were Mexican citizens.

Two U.S. citizens in the Acura, which was stopped without incident, were arrested on suspicion of immigrant smuggling. –D.F.B.


Deputies seeking pair in vehicle burglaries
The Sheriff's Department is looking for a man and woman suspected of burglarizing several vehicles in Santee and Encinitas.

Detectives say the pair may be watching the parking lots of gyms to see whether women left their purses in their cars.

In at least one case, a woman locked her purse in the trunk and then came back to discover her credit cards had been stolen.

The man and woman have used the stolen credit cards at stores in Santee, Kearny Mesa and Encinitas.

Crime Stoppers is offering up to $1,000 for information leading to their arrest. Anyone with information can call anonymously at (88 580-TIPS. –K.D.


Robbers hit apartment 2nd time in 2 weeks
SAN DIEGO: For the second time in two weeks, residents in a Lincoln Park apartment have been robbed at gunpoint.

The most recent incident occurred shortly before 3 a.m. yesterday when three men and a woman entered the apartment on Logan Avenue near South 49th Street through a back patio door while the victims were sleeping, police said.

Once inside, they had the two residents lie on the floor. They took one resident's car keys and cash before leaving.

Last week, a woman knocked on the front door of the apartment, and three men entered displaying a pistol. They took $30.

No one was hurt in either incident, police said. –K.K.


2 El Cajon police officers who shot suspect are ID'd
EL CAJON: Two police officers who shot and wounded an armed sexual-assault suspect near an apartment complex June 28 were identified yesterday as Officers Mark Bevan and Jared Slocum, authorities said.

Bevan has worked seven years with the El Cajon Police Department and is a field training officer, and Slocum was hired a few months ago and was in training, said El Cajon Lt. Mike Moore.

The officers were placed on three days' paid leave, standard policy in such cases, and have returned to duty.

The suspect, Raul Yepez Jimenez, 31, was treated at a San Diego hospital. Jimenez has since been booked on suspicion of attempted murder, assaulting a peace officer with a firearm and resisting arrest, jail records showed.

The officers told investigators they first noticed the man holding a gun on a woman near apartments on West Washington Avenue near Emerald Avenue. They ordered him to drop the weapon and he turned and fired at them. The officers shot back and hit him at least twice in the torso. –M.A.



Woman killed when vehicle is broadsided
SAN DIEGO: A woman was killed early yesterday when she was ejected from an SUV that was broadsided by another SUV whose driver ran a red light and was suspected of drunken driving.

The collision occurred at Genesee Avenue and La Jolla Village Drive in the University City area just after 1:15 a.m., San Diego police said.

The woman was a passenger with three other women in a 2000 Ford Expedition that was eastbound on La Jolla Village Drive when a man driving a 2001 Acura SUV south on Genesee Avenue ran the light and slammed into them, police said.

The woman, who was sitting in the right rear passenger seat, was thrown from the vehicle. She died at the scene. Both drivers were injured and hospitalized.

The driver of the Acura was arrested on suspicion of drunken driving, police said. The intersection was closed for several hours as authorities investigated. –D.F.B.



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Staff writers Debbi Farr Baker, Kristina Davis, Karen Kucher and Mark Arner contributed to this report.








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A Border Patrol agent got behind the wheel of a driverless van carrying suspected illegal immigrants and kept it from plummeting off a 50-foot embankment early Thursday, the agency said yesterday.

Call Johnny Sutton and have this border control agent prosecuted for interfering with the illegal aliens right to drive off a cliff. This egregious action against Mexican citizens illegally in the U.S. cannot be tolerated!

This is SOP for the runners, slow down and jump out and crash their vehicle so they can run away. I've seen them do it many times.