An SUV with 14 people inside, mostly undocumented immigrants, crashed while being chased by Border Patrol agents Sunday afternoon in Big Wells, Texas, and five are dead.
The crash happened off Highway 85 in Big Wells around noon.
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The SUV was traveling at a speed of more than 100 miles per hour when it crashed, according to Dimmit County Sheriff Marion Boyd.
Twelve immigrants were ejected and four died at the scene when the car crashed and rolled over, Boyd said.
A fifth person later died at the hospital, San Antonio News 4 reported.
Nine people were transported to the hospital, including the driver, who is a United States citizen. One other passenger was a legal U.S. citizen.
The chase began when a border patrol agent detected three vehicles traveling one behind the other and suspected it may be a smuggling effort, authorities said.
The agent was only able to pull over one of the vehicles, but he radioed a description of the other two vehicles to dispatch.
Another one of the vehicles was pulled over by another agent, but the third vehicle refused to stop and a high-speed chase began.
Multiple arrests were made in both vehicles.
Boyd credited “good police work” as the reason why deputies started pursuing the vehicle.
There needs to be a border wall built because this is a “real problem” in the area, Boyd pointed out.
The incident is under investigation by the U.S. Border Patrol, Texas Department of Public Safety, Dimmit County Sheriff’s Office, Homeland Security Investigations, and Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility, Border Patrol said in a statement.
