10 Hurt Jumping From Van During Chase on Freeway

In a daring escape attempt, at least 10 people believed to be illegal immigrants jumped from a moving van on a busy stretch of Interstate 5 in San Clemente, some landing on the asphalt shoulder, others rolling down an embankment, authorities said Sunday.

The van, a green 1974 Dodge, was being chased by Border Patrol agents. The people began “bailing out” of it sometime before 9 p.m. Saturday night as it slowed to 35 m.p.h. in the northbound lanes near the Avenida Pico off-ramp, an INS spokesman said. “There were bodies everywhere,” said Mike Gregg, an agent for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Nine of the passengers, six of whom were women, were treated for various injuries at the scene, then taken to one of two area hospitals. A 10th person, a man who had suffered cuts and was badly bruised, was discovered wandering several hours later in a nearby residential neighborhood. Authorities were unable to determine the exact number of passengers.

At least four of the injured remained hospitalized Sunday night at Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. All were in satisfactory condition, hospital officials said. The others had apparently been released.

Aida Ayala, 30, who had suffered head injuries, was one of those hospitalized Sunday. She said that she had paid someone $100 to be driven from the border town of San Ysidro to Los Angeles to find work. Three years ago, she said, her husband was blinded in a construction accident, leaving her the sole provider for a family of five. Now, she said, her 6-year-old son has a life-threatening throat illness.

Ayala, who said she worked in a dress factory in Mexico, estimated that she would need $600 to pay for treatment for her son, whose abilities to breathe and speak are impaired. That was why, she said, she decided to come to the United States long enough to make the money, then return home.

“I was very afraid because I had never left my home before,” Ayala said. “I don’t know what I can do now.”

Ayala had been riding in the back of the windowless van as it slowed approaching the Border Patrol checkpoint south of San Clemente in San Diego County about 8:30 p.m. INS agent Gregg said that as the van reached the front of the line and agents began asking the driver questions, the van sped off. Two Border Patrol squad cars gave chase, at speeds reaching 80 m.p.h., as the van wove in and out of freeway traffic, he said.

After about four miles, the van suddenly slowed as it neared the Avenida Pico off-ramp, Gregg said. Agents then saw passengers in the van jumping out, some getting to their feet and scrambling down a steep embankment overlooking San Clemente hospital; others, stunned by the fall, lay motionless along the freeway shoulder.

The van did not ever stop, authorities said. One Border Patrol unit pulled over to tend to the injured; the other followed the van as it angled across all four northbound lanes to a dirt shoulder next to the center divider. The driver jumped out, ran across the southbound lanes, dodging traffic as he did so, and disappeared into the darkness, Gregg said.

Van Was Left Running

The driver had left the van running and in neutral gear, Gregg said. It had begun to roll backward into the traffic lanes as the agents reached it, Gregg said, and because all the doors were locked, one agent smashed a window with his elbow to reach the brake. The agent was later treated for minor cuts.

“We’ve seen smugglers abandon their vehicles while moving, but this is the first time I can remember passengers jumping,” Gregg said.

San Clemente fire and paramedic units arriving at the scene found that most of the injured were too stunned to move. Paramedic Tom Harris said it was a strange sight, “a lot of victims and no cars. Usually with multiple victims you see a lot cars.”

Most of the injuries, Harris said, were head and leg scrapes.

Ayala said she remembered nothing from the time of the chase until she regained consciousness in the hospital. She said she remembered passing “many bridges” as the van was being chased at high speeds, and that the pursuit seemed to last about 20 minutes.

‘Total Confusion’

Inside the van, she said, “there was total confusion.”

Maria Chacon, 28, another passenger in the van, said Sunday from her hospital bed that she had traveled from her hometown in Chiapas, Mexico’s southernmost state, in search of a job. Chacon, a single parent of two boys, ages 8 and 1, said her job as a restaurant helper was not enough to make ends meet. She said she was headed for Los Angeles, where she had friends who had promised she could find higher-paying work.

“I only wanted to work here for a few months and then return home,” she said.

Both Chacon and Ayala said the addresses and telephone numbers of their Los Angeles friends were among the personal belongings they lost in the incident.

Chacon said she had been carrying a reddish suitcase that had, besides the address, her last $65 in cash, one pair of trousers, three blouses, a pair of shoes and a jacket. Ayala said she lost her purse, which she said contained about $100 in cash and photographs of her family.

‘Trauma Victims’

Border Patrol officials were not available for comment late Sunday about the whereabouts of the van passengers’ belongings.

Still hospitalized Sunday were Zheng Kang-Xin, 32, and an unidentified 17-year-old Latino man, both of whom were reported in satisfactory condition.

Those not still hospitalized Sunday had apparently been released and not taken into custody by the Border Patrol. Gregg said it is INS policy not to try to determine the citizenship status of an accident victim; those injured Saturday night, therefore, were never questioned about their nationality.

“Apprehension was never an issue,” Gregg said. “We treat them as trauma victims. We don’t know if they were legal or illegal.”

If, he said, “the hospital or another agency calls about those people, we will pursue it. But for now, we consider them legal.”

In recent years, San Clemente officials have been critical of the Border Patrol’s policy of chasing people suspected of being illegal aliens, particularly when the pursuits cross city streets. Saturday’s chase remained on the freeway.

Its outcome did not surprise some, however.

“Unfortunately, this happens quite often when the Border Patrol initiates such pursuits,” said San Clemente Police Sgt. Neil Murray. “Those involved, especially those being transported, are scared and frightened about the unknown, and when a pursuit begins, they panic.

“It probably happens more than we know.”