Posted on 08/18/2005 7:39:47 AM PDT by SmithL
SAN DIEGO - The driver of an SUV packed with illegal immigrants and nearly 700 pounds of marijuana sped from police with his headlights off the wrong way on Interstate 8 before crashing head on into a California Highway Patrol car, officials said.
Wednesday night's pursuit was the latest in a series of incidents involving smugglers who try to evade border checkpoints by veering into oncoming traffic, often at night, sometimes with their headlights off. At least one of the incidents has resulted in fatalities.
"This year for some reason they're becoming more frequent," said Brian Pennings, a CHP spokesman based at the agency's El Cajon office.
After Wednesday's crash, seven people jumped out of the disabled white Chevrolet Suburban and fled into the bush about 30 miles east of San Diego, Pennings said. Investigators quickly caught five of the occupants, who appeared to be illegal immigrants, he said.
The captured passengers and the CHP officer whose car was rammed were not injured, Pennings said. The driver had not been found late Wednesday.
The Suburban had been modified with a heavy-duty front bumper and solid, silicone-filled tires that could not be punctured by the spike strips that the CHP lays down to disable regular tires, Pennings said. Investigators found 694 pounds of marijuana inside it, he said.
The pursuit began when a CHP officer tried to pull over the Suburban on a side road because it had an expired registration tag, Pennings said.
But the driver steered the Suburban up an off-ramp and began speeding west in the eastbound freeway lanes, Pennings said. CHP officers laid down several spike strips but they had no effect on the Suburban's tires, he said.
To prevent a head-on collision, CHP officers slowed and stopped eastbound Interstate 8 traffic west of where the pursuit was occurring, he said.
The CHP officer who spotted the Suburban was involved in a new operation aimed at capturing people who have been driving the wrong way along Interstate 8 to avoid detection at Border Patrol checkpoints, Pennings said. The CHP has received several such reports this year after receiving none last year, he said.
On June 30, an immigrant smuggler swerved into oncoming traffic on a highway 20 miles east of San Diego, killing five people, including a 13-year-old boy. The van driver was charged with murder.
On Aug. 1, a van packed with suspected illegal immigrants overturned on Interstate 40, about 140 miles east of Los Angeles, killing six people, including the driver, and injuring 14.
If you're going to break a law, may as well break them all.
And some people will consider the worst of these offenses the fact that he was driving an SUV.
Action Plan: Arrest the SUV, "destroy" the pot, and release the immigrants.
Illegal immigrants AND drugs??
I am shocked!
Well, I think it all depends on the atmosphere you bring them up in.
Shouldn't smoke pot when you drive.
Damn SUV's. They could never get 700 lb's of bud in a Prius.
BP should be armed with RPGs to stop such speeding desperadoes. After the first three get wasted the rest will get the message.
The Mexican crazies are a lethal danger to other motorists
Investigators found 694 pounds of marijuana inside it, he said.
I want to know where that missing 6 pounds is Officer Ponchorella!!
the SUV ported 'silicon filled tires' impervious to spike strips..,,??
I woder if Nascar is aware of this 'option'? ;-)
ping
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Maybe because everyone has heard the news in years past that the BP stops chasing if the smugglers drive West on I-8 East (or the wrong way on any freeway), since it's dangerous for everyone. I thought it was a common enough occurrence, at least 2-3 years ago, that people recommended not driving east on I-8 past El Cajon at night.
a new operation aimed at capturing people who have been driving the wrong way along Interstate 8 to avoid detection at Border Patrol checkpoints
Hopefully this new plan will work.
"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government,
1. The act of invading; the act of encroaching upon the rights or possessions of another; encroachment; trespass.
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