Fatal Crash Ends Border Patrol Chase

DESERT CENTER, Calif. — One person was killed and at least nine others injured early Wednesday when a U.S. Border Patrol chase ended in a rollover crash in the remote desert east of Joshua Tree.

The crash occurred after an SUV loaded with 21 people, suspected of being illegal immigrants, drove over a tire-deflating spike strip deployed by the federal agency.

The crash near Desert Center, about 70 miles east of Palm Springs, renewed criticism of the Border Patrol’s pursuit policy and use of spike strips, issues that have concerned immigrants’ rights organizations and others in recent years.

“The Border Patrol should be extremely hesitant about using [pursuits]. This instance, and the result, exemplifies what’s wrong with doing it the way they do it,” said Ahilan Arulanantham, staff attorney with the Los Angeles office of the American Civil Liberties Union.

But Border Patrol officials justified the pursuit, saying agents followed guidelines, and blamed the alleged immigrant-smugglers for the crash.

“Unfortunately and quite terribly, [danger situations are] not an uncommon occurrence because these smugglers will do just about anything and everything -- they’re basically driven by greed -- to evade law enforcement and to get their goods, their human cargo, to their destination to collect their bounty,” said Quinn Palmer, senior patrol agent at the Border Patrol’s El Centro office.

Shortly before 4 a.m. Wednesday, agents turned on their lights and sirens and tried to stop a Chevrolet Suburban driving west on Interstate 10. Agents eventually put down a spike strip.

The van, which contained 21 Latino immigrants, veered into the desert and overturned, Palmer said.

Fire officials were called to the scene about 10 minutes later, said Fire Capt. Shawn Bierle with the Riverside County Fire Department at Desert Center.

A man pinned under the back axle of the Suburban was pronounced dead at the scene, he said. Three passengers were on the ground near the SUV.

Nine people were taken by helicopter and ambulance to hospitals in Indio, Palm Springs and Rancho Mirage, Palmer said.

Authorities determined that the remaining 11 were illegal immigrants who were then taken to a processing center in Indio.

Details about the speed of the chase, the cause of the initial pursuit and the conditions of the injured were unavailable Wednesday, Palmer said.

Carlos Giralt, the consul of Mexico in San Bernardino, said that some members of the group were Guatemalan and others Mexican and said that officials believed that the man who was killed was from Mexico.

Officer Michael Sorg of the CHP said some of the immigrants tried to run away after the crash. “Several individuals took off, and when they realized they were out in the middle of nowhere, they straggled back.”

The Border Patrol’s Palmer said the agents followed the agency’s guidelines, which mandate calling off a pursuit if a situation turns dangerous, such as if the suspect is driving erratically or speeding or if there is congestion.

The CHP is investigating the incident.

Sorg said the blame lay with the driver.

“It’s not the spike strip that caused the collision. It is the driver that caused the collision,” he said. “The driver simply failing to stop like he was supposed to ... caused the collision.”

Giralt criticized the use of spike strips in high-speed chases of vehicles carrying suspected illegal immigrants.

Claudia Smith, border project director with California Rural Legal Assistance in Oceanside, said the inherent danger of overloaded vehicles driving at freeway speeds is one reason the Border Patrol must rethink its pursuit policy.

“Lessons never seem to be learned from these tragedies,” she said.

“All the blame is placed on the smuggler, and the Border Patrol engages in no second-guessing of its role.”

Times staff writer Veronica Torrejon contributed to this report.