Border agent rescues occupants of driverless van


By Debbi Farr Baker
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM

11:29 a.m. July 13, 2007

SAN DIEGO – A Border Patrol agent got behind the wheel of a driverless, rolling van carrying several suspected illegal immigrants and kept it from plummeting off a 50-foot embankment early Thursday, the agency said.
A Mazda MVP minivan carrying 12 people was first spotted by agents Thursday morning traveling west on Old Highway 80 near Kitchen Creek Road east of Buckman Springs. An Acura sedan carrying two people was driving near it, the Border Patrol said.

The agents attempted to stop the Mazda but it sped off, turned around, and headed east on Old Highway 80.

Plainclothes agents in unmarked vehicles followed the van until it reached Miller Valley Road west of Boulevard. The driver bailed out, leaving the vehicle in gear and heading toward a rocky cliff.

The agency said the agent was able to get in the driver's seat and stop the van before it plummeted off the road. None of the passengers inside were wearing seat belts.

All of the people in the van and the driver were arrested and are Mexican citizens. A second agent suffered moderate injuries and had to be hospitalized after he fell down the embankment as he tried to catch the driver.

Two U.S. citizens in the Acura, which was stopped without incident, were arrested on suspicion of illegal-immigrant smuggling.


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