Border Patrol to Pay $1 Million to Families

A federal judge on Tuesday ruled that U.S. Border Patrol agents acted negligently when they pursued a vehicle carrying illegal immigrants that crashed and killed six people outside a Temecula high school.

In the nonjury trial, U.S. District Judge Linda M. McLaughlin ordered the federal agency to pay $1 million to the relatives of the victims even though she found the fleeing immigrants were 75% responsible for the deaths. The case was argued in her Orange County courtroom.

“The agents failed to use ordinary or reasonable care . . . and exposed third parties, including the children and husband of the plaintiff, to an unreasonable risk of harm,” McLaughlin concluded.

Some of the plaintiffs were overjoyed with the judge’s decision, which reflected the agency’s share of responsibility for the deaths.

“I think it’s great,” said plaintiff Gloria Murillo of Temecula, who lost two of her three children in the crash. “That’s enough for me. I couldn’t ever say what my kids are worth. I’m just glad they found them negligent.

“From the beginning I said [the Border Patrol chase] was lack of common sense,” she said.

But the judgment was far less than the amount that the plaintiffs sought. The survivors didn’t request specific damages in their lawsuit, but in closing statements their attorneys suggested amounts ranging from $6 million to $9 million total.

Government attorneys argued that the Border Patrol had acted properly. The sole responsibility for the crash should be placed on the driver and an occupant of the fleeing truck carrying undocumented Mexican immigrants, they contended.

Jesus Sandoval Macias, a 16-year-old Mexican national, was driving a Chevrolet Suburban that was first spotted June 2, 1992, by U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents near the Mexican border in San Diego. It was later pursued by Border Patrol agents, who suspected it was being used to smuggle illegal immigrants into Riverside County via Interstate 15.

According to trial testimony, Macias was speeding along the streets of Temecula about 65 mph when he ran a red light and sheared in half a sedan driven by John Davis, 46, who was taking his son, Todd Davis, 18, and friend Monisa Emilio, 14, to school. All three were killed.

The impact sent the Suburban skidding along a sidewalk, where it struck and killed 17-year-old Gloria Marie Murillo and her brother, 16-year-old Jose Murillo, as they were walking to school.

A sixth victim, Enicefero Vargas Gomez, 21, was one of 12 people inside the fleeing truck. He died later of injuries suffered in the crash. His family was not party to the lawsuit.

Border Patrol agents Jose Renteria, the driver, and Craig Lane were not injured.

Macias was eventually convicted of six counts of second-degree murder.

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Also contributing to this report was Times staff writer Martin Miller and the Associated Press.