13 injured after truck crashes during a Border Patrol chase in California, officials say
.JPG "A U.S. Customs and Border Protection van is seen next to a bus picking up travelers, mostly migrants from Haiti released from CBP custody, at a gas station that serves as a bus terminal, Thursday, Sept. 23, 2021, in Del Rio, Texas. On Dec. 7, 2021, a pickup truck with 13 passengers overturned while it was being pursued by Border Patrol agents, leaving 3 people seriously injured and the other 10 with less severe injuries.")
Thirteen people riding in the cab and bed of a pickup truck were injured in a rollover crash during a chase by Border Patrol agents inSan Diego County, California, local outlets reported.
The crash occurred at around 6:15 p.m. on Dec. 7, NBC San Diego reported.
Three of the people in the pickup truck were seriously injured, and the other 10 suffered were less injured, Capt. Frank LoCoco of the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection in San Diego told The Los Angeles Times.
One person was airlifted to a hospital, and the other 12 were transported via ambulances, the Times reported.
Border Patrol agents were pursuing the truck after its driver refused to pull over, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesperson Gerrelaine Alcordo told NBC San Diego.
The truck typically has enough seat belts for five passengers, indicating that some of the passengers ejected from the vehicle were likely riding in the truck’s cab without a seat belt or in its bed, LoCoco told NBC San Diego.
CBP said in an October news release that the U.S. Border Patrol San Diego Sector had seen an increase in “failure-to-yield” incidents, some of which resulted in injuries or hospitalizations.
The San Diego sector witnessed 23 failure-to-yield incidents between Oct. 1 and Oct. 27, 2021. The agency saw only four such incidents during October 2019, the release said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection did not respond to a request for comment from McClatchy News.