The Region : 2 Killed in Trying to Evade Border Patrol

A teen-age girl and one of her passengers were killed while trying to flee immigration agents with a suspected illegal alien in the trunk of the girl’s car, authorities said. Maria Bravo, 16, of Santa Ana led Border Patrol agents on a 70-mile chase from the San Clemente checkpoint to the Riverside area before she lost control of her car and was thrown from the overturning vehicle, authorities said. Also thrown from the car and killed was a 21-year-old Tulare man who was riding in the back seat, Border Patrol spokesman Ed Pyeatt said. His name was withheld pending notification of relatives. Another man, Frank J. Carrillo, 25, of Los Angeles, who was riding in the front seat, and a third passenger, Ramon Mendoza Rios, 46, of Jalisco, Mexico, who was in the trunk, both escaped with minor injuries. Carrillo was arrested on suspicion of felony illegal alien smuggling and taken to the Border Patrol’s facility in San Ysidro. Rios, a suspected illegal alien, was held as a material witness.