Thread: Innocent bystanders trapped in canal during immigrant chase

Woman, children rescued from canal
Innocent bystanders trapped in canal during immigrant chase

By Ray Pedraza
Posted: Wednesday, April 16, 2008 at 1:17 p.m.

A Mission police officer and a courageous bystander are being hailed heros in Mission after saving a woman, her 5-year-old child and her small infant from a canal.

The rescue happened near Stewart Road and FM 495.

Authorities told Action 4 News that the woman's car plunged into the water.

The woman veered off the road while trying to avoid a white GMC truck loaded with 24 illegal immigrants fleeing from police.

Officers tried to pull over the suspicious truck after it disregarded a stop light on FM 495.

At the point of impact, several of the immigrants fled and an all out search ensued on the ground and in the air.

The woman, her children and four of the suspected undocumented immigrants were taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

They are expected to be fine.

Mission police said they are pretty proud of their officer and the citizen who jumped in the water to save them.

"What's incredible about this rescue is that the children were strapped in to their car seats and the rescuing officer and citizen were able to unbuckle them before the car submerged into the water," said police spokesman Lt. Martin Garza.

Border Patrol agents and police were able to catch 22 of the immigrants.

We've learned that this group of immigrants, possibly from central america, were being held at a stash house right near the scene of the accident.

A Mission dive team has been in the canal to see if the two missing immigrants might be in the water but so far nothing has been found.

The fire department is in the process of removing the submerged car from the water.

Action 4 News will continue to follow any developments in the case.

http://www.team4news.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=122192

The officer and the bystander risked their lives saving others. I hope those illegal immigrants that fled face charges of leaving the scene of an accident, failure to give aid to the injured, and everything else they can think of. So once deported they can never get any type of visa into the U.S.

AMERICA- home of the brave.