2 Killed, 8 Injured as Vehicle Veers Off I-8
Two suspected illegal immigrants were killed and eight others injured Saturday when their sport utility vehicle skidded off Interstate 8 in a mountainous area east of San Diego, officials said.
The vehicle, with 12 people aboard, tumbled 100 feet down an embankment near Pine Valley, about 30 miles east of San Diego.
Just moments earlier, the vehicle had attempted to evade the Border Patrol checkpoint on I-8 by taking a circuitous route off the freeway.
But Border Patrol and California Highway Patrol spokesmen said neither agency was pursuing the vehicle when the accident occurred. The driver, who was uninjured, is a U.S. citizen, officials said. He was arrested on suspicion of vehicular manslaughter.
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