Agent reported hit, killed by fleeing vehicle in dunes

A U.S. Border Patrol agent was killed Saturday morning when he was struck by a vehicle as it fled law enforcement officers in the Imperial Sand Dunes.

The agent, who was stationed in the Yuma sector, was hit at about 9:30 a.m. near Gray's Well Road south of Interstate 8, according to Border Patrol representatives. The agent was laying spike strips across the road in an attempt to stop a Hummer vehicle that was fleeing pursuit.

Border Patrol officials believe the Hummer was driven by smugglers from Mexico.

Paramedics attempted to revive the agent at the scene but could not save him. Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Jeremy Schappell, spokesman for the Yuma sector, said the driver escaped back to Mexico.

"Right now our Mexican liaison unit has contact with the Mexican authorities ... try and track these individuals down," Schappell said.

No apprehensions have been made at this time. Schappell said they did not know whether the vehicle was carrying drugs or human cargo.

The Hummer and a Black Ford F-150 pickup truck were being pursued by law enforcement officers on I-8 when they turned into the dunes and fled toward Mexico, according to witnesses in the dunes.

The incident occurred near a popular duning campground.

"It was at the entrance to the Buttercup Recreation Area, where the duners usually park," Schappell said.

He added that it is not unusual for smugglers to go through these recreational spots.

"It actually happens quite frequently out here. What they try to do is, they hope to blend in with the usual dune traffic to increase their chances of going undetected," Schappell said.

The agent's name has not been released at this time, pending notification of next of kin.

This is the first time in more than four years the Yuma sector has lost an agent. Agent James Epling drowned in December 2003 in the Colorado River while in pursuit of four illegal immigrants.

An El Centro sector agent assigned to the Indio station, Richard Goldstein, died in May 2007. He drowned in a canal near the city of Niland, east of the Salton Sea and about 60 miles southeast of Indio.

"It's not easy. No law enforcement agency wants to lose one of their own. What we're focusing on now is making sure the agents at the scene are taken care of, mentally. Our primary focus is on the family, helping them cope and deal with their loss," Schappell said.

According to La Cronica newspaper of Mexicali, in Los Algodones there was a heavy air and ground operation on the part of various Mexican government and police organizations in search of the responsible parties and their vehicles.

The newspaper also reported that the government of Mexico strongly condemned the incident. Mexico's secretery of foreign affairs sent condolences from the federal government to the family of the agent, to his coworkers in the Yuma sector and to the U.S. Border Patrol.

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Sarah Reynolds can be reached at

sreynolds@yumasun.com or 539-6847.