Men strike CBP officer, hijack vehicle
February 16, 2011 11:34 PM
By NAXIELY LOPEZ/The Monitor

PHARR — Police are working to figure out why two men traveling to Mexico on Wednesday afternoon struck a U.S. Customs and Border Protection officer with a vehicle and hijacked another vehicle before fleeing into Mexico.

The CBP officer, who was transported to a hospital with non-life-threatening injuries, is expected to recover, officials said.

The chain of events began about 1:15 p.m. after a CBP officer, who was working southbound operations near the tollbooth, asked the driver of a red Dodge Durango to step out of the vehicle, according to a news release from the Pharr Police Department. At that time, the driver opened his door and struck the officer with it as he fled to Mexico, police said.

The officer shot at the vehicle once before it ran over spikes that had been laid out by police, officials said. There was no information on whether the driver or a second male occupant in the truck was injured during the incident.

The men then headed south until they reached the Mexican side of the bridge, where they abandoned the Durango, which had deflated tires.

After that, the men hijacked a Nissan — driven by a female Mexican citizen headed to the United States — and continued south, officials said. The woman was unharmed and left at the bridge. It is unknown if the suspects used any physical force or weapons in the carjacking, police said.

The Nissan was found by Mexican authorities, who said the vehicle had been abandoned farther ahead on the bridge after the carjacking. The suspects, however, were not apprehended.

The port of entry was shut down for more than an hour while the cars were removed from the roadway, said Felix Garza, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman.

Mexican authorities handed the Dodge Durango over to the Pharr Police Department, which is pursuing the investigation as an aggravated assault on a public servant, officers said. Investigators did not find any contraband in either vehicle, police added.

The recovered truck is registered out of Pharr and was not reported stolen, police said. Investigators are questioning the owner of the vehicle and have developed a suspect on the case, but they did not mention their identity.

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