Thread: Border chase tactics questioned

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/ ... crash.html

Border chase tactics questioned
Kin of immigrants in fatal crash upset with U.S. bid to stop influx

Daniel Gonzalez and Susan Carroll
The Arizona Republic
Aug. 25, 2006 12:00 AM


Soledad Gomez and her son Victor Hugo Olivos shuffle daily from room to room at Banner Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix, bleary-eyed from crying and lack of sleep.

In intensive care they visit Luis, Soledad's son and Victor Hugo's brother. Luis, 30, remains comatose with multiple head injuries and broken bones. In the surgical unit they see Luis' wife, Teresa, 21, who still doesn't remember who she is. Finally, they visit Luis and Teresa's baby girl, born three months premature.

The three were among the passengers packed like cordwood into a Chevy Suburban loaded with undocumented immigrants that rolled four times on Aug. 7 near Yuma after the driver tried to elude authorities.

Eleven died, including an unborn fetus, and 10 were injured, making it among the deadliest vehicle crashes involving undocumented immigrants. U.S. authorities say the driver sped up to evade the Border Patrol and crashed after he swerved to avoid spike sticks on the road. A federal grand jury indicted the driver on felony charges, U.S. officials announced Thursday.

The wreck has renewed controversy over the Border Patrol's pursuit policy, assailed by agents and union members for giving smugglers an advantage and by human rights activists for being dangerous.

Relatives of the crash victims are questioning the Border Patrol's tactics and say the SUV could have been stopped without a chase. But preliminary results from an investigation into the incident found proper procedures were followed.

The Yuma crash also prompted a coalition of human rights groups to send a letter this week to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff asking for the Border Patrol to suspend "hot" pursuits pending a review of its policy. Meanwhile, government officials and family members continue to work to get the dead back home and the injured connected with their families.

Stopping the smuggler

The U.S. attorney for Arizona said that a federal grand jury has indicted the driver, Adan Pineda-Doval, 20, an undocumented immigrant from Michoacan, Mexico, with 11 felony counts of transportation of undocumented immigrants resulting in death and transportation of undocumented immigrants, placing lives in jeopardy. Pineda-Doval, in federal custody, faces life in prison or the death penalty if convicted.

But Soledad and Victor Hugo don't blame the driver. Nor do they blame Luis or any of the migrants who crossed the border illegally. They believe the Border Patrol's tactics are at fault.

"This is an injustice," Victor Hugo said at the hospital. "Why did they use spikes to stop them? These were human beings, not armed criminals. . . . They could have followed the vehicle until it ran out of gas," he said.

Border Patrol agents from the El Centro sector, west of Yuma, were manning a checkpoint in northern Yuma County when they spotted the Suburban using back roads, officials said. The El Centro sector was helping out in Yuma as part of the Arizona Border Control Initiative, designed to slow the massive influx of illegal immigration through the state.

On the morning of the crash, according to Yuma County Sheriff's Office investigators' reports, the white Suburban passed through a very steep, hilly area along Martinez Lake Road in northern Yuma County. The stretch of road has sharp ups and downs that local police call the "whoop-dee-dos."

The loaded Suburban, with the Border Patrol vehicle behind it, made it though the hills at an estimated speed of about 45 mph, said Capt. Eben Bratcher, a Yuma County Sheriff's Office spokesman. However, the driver "punched it" as soon as he hit an open stretch.

Up ahead, agents had laid out a spike strip to deflate the tires, according to reports. Bratcher said the driver lost control trying to avoid the spike strip. He added that at least one wheel hit the spikes. Preliminary speed estimates put the Suburban at about 80 mph.

Lloyd Frers, a spokesman for the El Centro sector of the Border Patrol, said the spike strips are "specifically designed to safely deflate a tire." Bratcher said he believes the Border Patrol deployed the strips properly.

"I absolutely, 100 percent believe the spike strips were used in a safe manner," he said. "The driver saw them, quite obviously, and still crashed because he was still trying to break the law and get away."

The Border Patrol's actions are not part of the investigation, Bratcher said. He said investigators do not have a speed estimate for the agents behind the Suburban because they were not involved in the collision. The accident remains under investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

Pursuit-policy questions

The Border Patrol's pursuit policy has been dogged by controversy for years.

It states that agents are not allowed to engage in "hot pursuit," officials said. So if a smuggler breaks a traffic law, such as driving into oncoming traffic, the agent must discontinue the pursuit, according to the policy. But agents are permitted to put out spike strips, used by law enforcement to stop speeding vehicles, as long as they are ahead of the vehicle and follow safety guidelines, officials said.

"Our policy ensures that we ensure the safety of not only our agents but of the general public," said Gus Soto, a Border Patrol spokesman. "If the vehicle that we are trying to pull over acts in a method that will jeopardize the safety of others, we will back off. We will terminate the pursuit."

The inability to pursue dangerous drivers has angered some agents, who feel hamstrung as smugglers speed ahead.

T.J. Bonner, head of the National Border Patrol Council, the union for the nation's rank-and-file agents, opposes the policy, in effect since 1992.

"It's ridiculous. It encourages people to break laws," he said. "Smugglers know what the policy is. When they see an agent, they punch the accelerator . . . and create a dangerous situation on the highway."

Bonner said the policy took effect in response to a wreck outside of Temecula,Calif., in 1992 that killed six people near a school zone.

Growing numbers of law enforcement agencies in Arizona and nationwide in recent years have restricted pursuits to safeguard the public from unintended car crashes and deaths. Phoenix police, for example, no longer chase fleeing drivers unless the person is wanted for a violent crime.

The Border Human Rights Working Group said in the letter to Chertoff that smugglers risk their lives and the lives of human cargo to avoid stiff new criminal penalties against smugglers.

"Under these well-known circumstances, hot-pursuit cases by the Border Patrol are a recipe for death, injury and the destruction of property," the letter states.

Family strains

Six of the 10 injured passengers were transported to Good Samaritan. One later died. The hospital takes reasonable action to collect bills from uninsured patients but it may have to absorb some or all of the costs, said Bill Byron, the hospital system's director of public relations. It's possible the hospital will apply for some costs under a recent federal law that reimburses border hospitals for emergency care to the undocumented, he said.

Soledad and Victor Hugo, from Michoacan, said the family doesn't have the money to pay the hospital bills.

Luis, who was trying to get to Phoenix in hopes of getting a gardening job, remains attached to a respirator, family members said. The crash caused multiple fractures in his cranium and face. It broke his lower left leg and snapped the tendon on his right knee. It sheared the flesh on his left arm down to the veins and ripped open the left side of his chest "like he was clawed by a tiger."

Teresa, meanwhile, has taken a few steps but has trouble keeping balance. She still can't speak. She was 6 1/2 months pregnant the day of the accident.

As soon as they are stable, doctors plan to send Luis and Teresa back to Mexico, Soledad and Victor Hugo said. They don't know who will raise the healthy baby girl, born by Caesarean section. The grandparents named her Maria Soledad de los Milagros, or Maria Soledad of the Miracles, "because it is a miracle that the three of them survived," Soledad said.

But Soledad and Victor Hugo don't blame the driver. Nor do they blame Luis or any of the migrants who crossed the border illegally. They believe the Border Patrol's tactics are at fault.

OMG

This confirms what I was saying the other day about this accident, the Border Patrol has a "no chase" policy, the driver of the van sped away from the BP and he radioed ahead where another agent placed out the stop stick. The Border Patrol were doing thier job in protecting the public.

I can't help but wonder what these people want the Border Patrol to do?
Sit and watch smugglers drive by and wave at them or give them a escort with thier lights turned on?

As soon as they are stable, doctors plan to send Luis and Teresa back to Mexico, Soledad and Victor Hugo said. They don't know who will raise the healthy baby girl, born by Caesarean section. The grandparents named her Maria Soledad de los Milagros, or Maria Soledad of the Miracles, "because it is a miracle that the three of them survived," Soledad said.

Do what most good grandparents do, raise your grandchildren if something like this happens to the parents. I am raising my 14 year old grandson because his mother passed away two years ago from cancer. It never entered my mind to question who would raise him.

"This is an injustice," Victor Hugo said at the hospital. "Why did they use spikes to stop them? These were human beings, not armed criminals. . . . They could have followed the vehicle until it ran out of gas," he said

This is injustice? Great...so the lawbreakers once again get the BOO HOO, and the officers doing their job get berraded.
Any illegal knows the risk he/she takes when coming here illegaly, especially if they are going to use smugglers to get them in.

The fact that once again we are paying for your medical care because of this crash is injustice.

As sad as this story is to the people that were injured or killed...

I just love it whe people say stuff as in the below:

"This is an injustice," Victor Hugo said at the hospital. "Why did they use spikes to stop them? These were human beings, not armed criminals. . . . They could have followed the vehicle until it ran out of gas," he said.

My response(s):

Re: "An injustice..."
Translation - 'How dare you stop the coyote that was smuggling my other family members into the country and daring to chase him when he did'.

Re: "Why did they use spikes to stop them?"
You're right Mr. Hugo. I'll be sure to suggest to CBP that half-cooked ravioli should by thrown from a slowly moving vehicle instead. Or we can just institute a policy of strong verbal reprimands - 'come back, you $&^@$@* ! - oh wait... that's right, we have to do that in Spanish - Mexican Spanish. ... riiiiggggghhhht.

But that's not all....
"These were human beings, not armed criminals."
You mean that armed criminals are not human beings?!?!?!?
So, 'armed criminals' cannot be 'humans'?
You decide. To me, they still entered the country illegally.
They are still criminals - armed or unarmed, humans or otherwise.

And about those spike strips...
You know, these are the 'offensive' kind - not the ones that just sit there on the road immobile, oh no, not those. We're talking about the ones that jump up and into your vehicle and cause the driver to lose control - especially when 20yr olds are driving with 50% of the vehicle's weight as load. Uh-huh.

One final 'dig':
"They could have followed the vehicle until it ran out of gas"
...or until He$$ froze over ...'

Give me a freakin' break.

Paging Mr. Darwin, paging Mr. Darwin...
Mr. Darwin please phone home.

These smugglers don't care one iota about the people they transport, all they are is money on the hoof.
I have been on several ambulance calls were the driver slowed down and drove the van down a steep embankment injuring the illegals, they(the drivers/smugglers) jump out before it goes over and run off, they know the Border Patrol has to stay with the injured and often get away.
I would like to know how they think the Border Patrol could have followed them when they were doing eighty MPH and have a no chase policy, the whole point is to get them to slow down so they don't injure anybody.
I'm sorry these people were killed but if they had not crashed where they did the driver could have hit another vehicle killing more people.
The Border Patrol goes through a lot of training to ensure public safety and the safety of those they are after.

They could have followed the vehicle until it ran out of gas," he said.

Man convicted in crash that kills 10 illegal immigrants
Allison Denny
The Arizona Republic
Oct. 26, 2007 02:15 PM

A jury has found a man guilty of a rollover accident that killed 10 undocumented immigrants, including a pregnant woman whose fetus failed to survive.

The federal jury found Adan Pineda-Doval, 21, guilty Thursday of 10 counts of transport of illegal aliens resulting in death, one count of transport of illegal aliens while placing lives in jeopardy and one count of re-entry into the U.S. following deportation.

The accident occurred in August 2006 near Yuma when Pineda-Doval, of Michoacán, Mexico, was transporting 20 undocumented immigrants to Los Angeles, according to the U.S. Attorney's District of Arizona office.


A Border Patrol agent patrolling a dirt road used to bypass the border checkpoint confronted Pineda-Doval, who failed to stop the 1995 Chevrolet Suburban.

Another agent used a tire-deflation device in an attempt to stop the vehicle when Pineda-Doval swerved, traveled off the roadway and swerved again, causing the vehicle to roll. Several people were ejected.

Pineda-Doval was arrested after witnesses identified him as the driver of the 1995 Chevrolet Suburban involved in the crash.

According to the U.S. Attorney's District of Arizona office, an expert who testified during the trial confirmed that the rollover was caused by Pineda-Doval swerving the vehicle.

Pineda-Doval's sentencing is set for Jan. 28.

A conviction for each count of transport of illegal aliens resulting in death carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, a $250,000 fine or both. The charge of the transport of illegal aliens while placing lives in jeopardy carries a maximum penalty of 20 years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both. The charge of re-entry following deportation carries a maximum penalty of two years in prison, a $250,000 fine, or both.

The investigation was conducted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Border Patrol's Yuma Sector, along with the Yuma County Sheriff's Office and the FBI.

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