13 Suspected Illegal Immigrants Held After 2-Hour Freeway Chase

More than a dozen suspected illegal immigrants bailed out of a disabled pickup truck Thursday morning, several scrambling across a busy freeway before all were captured by authorities after a two-hour chase across Southern California. There were no injuries, authorities said.

The chase began about 7:30 a.m. when the pickup sped past a Border Patrol checkpoint near the Imperial County community of Calipatria, Border Patrol spokesman Thomas Dietzman said. Agents pursued the pickup but fell back and let a Border Patrol helicopter follow it north on California 111.

“Unless a person’s a hazard to the public, we will not pursue at a high speed,” said Vito Leuci, special agent in charge of the Border Patrol’s Riverside station.

Border Patrol agents tried to place a strip with nails ahead of the pickup, hoping to puncture the tires, Dietzman said. But the driver tried to run over an agent and continued north, Dietzman said. The pickup, holding 12 passengers and a driver, ran through a Coachella Police Department blockade and turned onto the westbound San Bernardino Freeway, heading for Los Angeles. The California Highway Patrol joined the pursuit.

The chase ended when one of the pickup’s tires went flat about 9:45 a.m. on the San Bernardino Freeway near Barranca Street in West Covina. The vehicle pulled over to the center divider and, as television helicopters hovered overhead, half of its occupants made a break for an industrial park across the freeway, dodging cars and trucks.

Some of the suspects hid in bushes and a couple dived into a wash by the side of the road, authorities said. Some ran through a side door in the Comfort Inn and hid in an office.

“They were scared. They were running like hell,” said Sam Patel, the hotel’s owner and manager. “When they crossed the freeway, I don’t know how they did it.”

Patel said he and his maid called police after she discovered the suspects in the hotel office. CHP officers promptly set up crime scene tape around the hotel, making it difficult for guests to leave. “It was fun watching it,” Patel said of the chase, “but it was bad for my business.”

Leuci said the 13 occupants of the pickup were being taken to the El Centro detention center. Agents were still verifying names Thursday afternoon, but said they believed that one of the 13 was a “coyote,” or immigrant smuggler. Leuci said the driver of the pickup would be charged with attempted assault on a federal agent and evading a Border Patrol checkpoint--a crime under legislation that took effect April 1.

Thursday’s chase ended more peacefully than other recent, highly publicized chases of illegal immigrants.

Nearly a year ago, two Riverside County sheriff’s deputies were captured on videotape beating illegal immigrants whose truck was stopped in South El Monte. Also last April, eight illegal immigrants died and 17 were hurt in a crash near Temecula as their vehicle was being followed by Border Patrol agents. Two other immigrants died in a later crash in Alpine.

In February a federal judge ordered the Border Patrol to pay $1 million to the survivors of five people killed by a vehicle packed with illegal immigrants who were fleeing agents in 1992.