Crash Hurts 7 in Chase by Border Agents

Seven suspected illegal aliens--including a 14-year-old boy--were critically injured Sunday night when their car crashed in San Clemente during a 10-mile chase by U.S. Border Patrol agents.

Police officers, who were not involved in the pursuit but arrived at the scene of the wreck, said the driver of the car, Cornelio Gonzalez Ruiz, 24, was arrested on suspicion of smuggling the passengers into the United States. Border Patrol officials would not comment.

Names of the other injured were not immediately known, San Clemente Police Sgt. Dave Raser said. Many of the victims were rushed into surgery and did not appear to have identification on them, he said.

Three women, three men and the boy were riding in the car, Raser added.

One of the passengers was taken by helicopter from a church a few blocks from the crash to Mission Community Hospital in Mission Viejo, Raser said. All seven victims were admitted to intensive care units and five of them were considered gravely injured trauma patients, hospital and police officials said.

The boy, two men and a woman were admitted at Mission Community Hospital, police and nursing supervisors said. They said two women and a man were transported to San Clemente General Hospital.

Raser said only one victim was able to sit up at the crash site.

Marguerite Nelson, a nursing supervisor at Mission Community Hospital, said the teen-agerwas reported in stable condition and expected to be transferred to the pediatrics unit.

Police and said the high-speed chase began at 6:05 p.m., when a Buick LeSabre carrying seven people failed to stop at the border patrol’s San Onofre checkpoint.

Two agents began chasing the car north on Interstate 5 at about 85 m.p.h., Raser said, and the Buick left the freeway at the El Camino Real off-ramp in San Clemente.

At 65 to 75 m.p.h. through the heart of downtown San Clemente, the Buick sped down El Camino Real and careened off cars near Del Mar street, Raser said.

A tire on the Buick apparently blew out, police said, and the driver lost control of the vehicle, crashing into a palm tree outside a Security Pacific National Bank branch.

Raser, who was at the scene of the crash, said the car was demolished. He said he did not know where the car was traveling from but said it was registered in Anaheim.

“It was just a miracle--I mean people are out eating ice cream and walking around downtown on Sunday nights,” Raser said. “It’s unbelievable nobody else got hurt.”

Times staff writer Nieson Himmel contributed to this story.