http://www.azstarnet.com/sn/border/91347.php

Published: 09.01.2005

Border agent shoots man during Tucson chase
By Becky Pallack
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

A Border Patrol agent shot a man during a chase through Tucson on Wednesday morning. The man is expected to survive.

The incident began around 8 a.m. when an agent tried to pull over a pickup truck loaded with illegal entrants on Interstate 19, but the driver refused to stop, said Agent Jose Garza, a Border Patrol spokesman.

The agent followed the car and, near South Nogales Highway and Hughes Access Road, the driver stopped and several passengers "bailed out," Garza said.

Some passengers were arrested, but the driver jumped into a silver Pontiac and a Border Patrol agent shot at him, Garza said.

Despite the injury, the driver fled and the chase continued to a residential area near South Park Avenue and East Valencia Road, where the driver was arrested after he ran into a neighborhood. His name will not be released, Garza said. The man was treated for a non-life-threatening injury.

Garza would not say why the agent decided to shoot at the driver or whether the man was armed, and he declined to give more specific locations citing an open investigation.

However, the FBI, which is working with the Border Patrol on this incident, is investigating charges of an assault on a federal agent, according to spokeswoman Deborah McCarley.

She would not release any further information about the assault or the officer involved.

The FBI is investigating the shooting with the help of the Pima County Sheriff's Department, Garza said. Sheriff's deputies helped in the chase and officers from the Tucson Police Department helped control the crime scenes.