Border Accident Leaves 4 Dead

Four people were killed and six others injured Tuesday night when a San Diego man driving along the U.S.-Mexico border ran into a group of 10 people while trying to avoid two other pedestrians, police said.

Jose Castro Rivera, 28, was westbound on Calle Internacional in Tijuana at 5:53 p.m. when he swerved his compact car to avoid a woman and her daughter who were crossing the street, San Diego police said.

Rivera then lost control of the car and swerved into the crowd.

“He tried to turn and miss them, but he lost control and ran into a group of people on the wall” on the Mexican side of the border, San Diego Police Officer Dewayne Glazewski said.

Two men were flung over the wall to the U.S. side of the border and died at the scene; a man and a woman lay dead on the Mexican side, police said.

One man who fell on the U.S. side was taken to Mercy Hospital and was listed in serious but stable condition with a fractured pelvis. Two others were taken to UC San Diego Medical Center and were in fair condition late Tuesday night, hospital officials said.

At least one injured person was taken to a hospital in Tijuana, San Diego police said.

Names of the victims were not available.

Rivera, said by San Diego police to be a doctor who lives in San Diego but practices in Mexico, was taken into custody by Tijuana police.

Rivera was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time, and it is likely that he will be charged with homicide, Tijuana police said.

Groups of people regularly gather along the wall where the accident occurred, waiting to cross the border illegally after nightfall, police said.