Judge Rejects Suit Aimed at Border Chases

A federal judge on Thursday rejected a lawsuit filed by Temecula city officials aimed at forcing the U.S. Border Patrol to rewrite its high-speed pursuit policy in the wake of a crash 2 1/2 weeks ago that left six people dead.

U.S. District Judge Alicemarie Stotler in Santa Ana said Temecula’s attorneys failed to prove that the law allows the federal government to be sued by the city on the issue.

Temecula City Atty. Scott Field said the city is considering its options--including refiling the suit or appealing Stotler’s ruling.

The city’s lawsuit against the federal Immigration and Naturalization Service was prompted by the June 2 Border Patrol chase of a vehicle containing 12 illegal immigrants. The pursuit by a marked Border Patrol vehicle began on Interstate 15 at a checkpoint at the San Diego-Riverside County line and spilled onto residential streets of nearby Temecula.

Traveling at speeds estimated at more than 80 m.p.h., the fleeing vehicle tore through an intersection next to Temecula Valley High School. The truck sliced a car in half that was carrying a father, his son and a schoolmate, then struck a brother and sister walking to school. All five were killed. One of the illegal immigrants died of his injuries a week later.

The Border Patrol said it pulled back from the chase before the stolen Chevrolet Suburban entered the intersection, but city officials say the agents acted irresponsibly by pursuing the illegal immigrants into a school zone.

In the lawsuit, filed last Friday, the city said the agency’s pursuit policy lacks sufficient guidelines to govern individual agents in high-speed chases and is in violation of California’s motor vehicle code that governs such pursuits.

In her two-page ruling Thursday, Stotler said the city failed to make its case that the Border Patrol’s pursuit policy violates state law or whether it even has to conform to California laws governing high-speed chases.

Times staff writer Mark I. Pinsky contributed to this story.