Car being chased by border agents flips, killing one

By Kristina Davis
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

12:19 p.m. August 30, 2008

EAST COUNTY – A passenger in a car being chased by U.S. Border Patrol agents was killed late Friday when the car flipped several times near Flinn Springs, authorities said.


SEAN WOLFE for SignOnSanDiego

Emergency personnel tend to the victims injured when the car overturned.

The victim, a Latino man who appeared to be in his 40s, was partially ejected and died at the scene, according to the Medical Examiner's Office. His name has not been released.

Seven others in the car were hospitalized with injuries.

A Border Patrol agent driving east on Interstate 8 became suspicious when he saw several people climbing inside a green Ford Thunderbird that was pulled over at a bridge on the other side of the freeway, said Border Patrol spokesman Daryl Reed.

Thinking it was an immigrant smuggling attempt, the agent turned around on the freeway, but the car was gone. He radioed a description of the car to other agents, and it was spotted again near Tavern Road shortly before midnight.
Another agent tried to stop the car, but the driver exited onto Dunbar Lane and turned north onto Bridon Road at high speed.

The car hit a curb and rolled several times down an embankment, Reed said.

Some of the injured people were released from the hospital Saturday morning and taken into custody to determine their immigration status, Reed said.
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Kristina Davis: (619) 542-4591; kristina.davis@uniontrib

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