Pickup truck crosses U.S.-Mexico border driving wrong way on 5 Freeway
A pickup truck headed the wrong way up Interstate 5 barreled across the U.S.-Mexico border into San Ysidro on Wednesday morning, leading to a chase and the arrest of at least one person, a federal spokesman said.
About 6:30 a.m., a white Dodge Ram drove into the United States while heading north on the southbound I-5 freeway lanes, Customs and Border Protection spokesman Ralph DeSio said.
CBP officers are stationed in the area “on standby mode” in case of such an event, he said.
Officers threw out a spike stripe in hopes of stopping the pickup, and also notified the California Highway Patrol and Border Partrol agents.
The pickup continued north for about three miles before getting off the freeway at Tocayo Avenue and heading west.
The chase headed into a residential neighborhood before the pickup — riding on the rim, the back passenger-side tire gone — came to a rest against a retaining wall at the end of Honestidad Road, a cul-de-sac south of Tocayo.
Authorities arrested one person, and were seeking at least one more suspect as of mid-morning Wednesday.
No one was injured, and the vehicle was towed to the San Ysidro Port of Entry for inspection.
DeSio noted the peril in such crossings.
“They endanger the driving public,” DeSio said, adding that the action puts “profit over the safety of others.”
Figueroa writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune.
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