Published: 08.11.2006

9 killed: Not first run-in for driver
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
YUMA — A man accused of driving an SUV packed with illegal entrants that crashed this week, killing nine and injuring a dozen, was prosecuted after a similar chase last year, federal court records show.
Adan Pineda Doval, 20, is in federal custody on a charge of felony transportation of illegal aliens for Monday's crash north of Yuma. Federal officials said he was trying to avoid a Border Patrol checkpoint and led agents on a chase before trying to make a U-turn and overturning the SUV.
Pineda led agents on a similar pursuit in June 2005, according to documents filed in federal court in Yuma. He drove a truck from Yuma to Quartzsite with Border Patrol agents and Arizona Department of Public Safety officers in pursuit.
"The defendant drove erratically ... putting the lives of the agents and his passengers in danger," said a statement included with the complaint.
Pineda had entered the United States illegally near Andrade, Calif., and was charged with illegal entry.
The federal statement also listed aggravated assault against a law enforcement officer, criminal damage, resisting arrest, unlawful flight from a law enforcement vehicle and endangerment, but he never faced those charges. Instead, less than a week after the chase, Pineda was sentenced to six months in prison on the misdemeanor entry charge.
It appears Pineda was the recipient of what federal prosecutors call a "flip-flop," used because there are so many smuggling cases, said a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office.
In a flip-flop, normally offered to smugglers who didn't endanger those they were smuggling, prosecutors charge the smuggler with a felony and a misdemeanor, he or she accepts a plea agreement and is found guilty only of the misdemeanor.
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