Border Patrol sued in accident that injured immigrant, killed daughter

  The Border Patrol is being sued by an immigrant whose daughter was killed when the two were struck by a patrol vehicle in the desert near Dateland in 2006.

  The lawsuit was filed earlier this month in U.S. District Court in Tucson on behalf of Juan Cruz Torralva, whose daughter, Lourdes Cruz Morales, was killed in what a Yuma County Sheriff's Office report described as an accident.

  Agent Gregorio Garcia was patrolling an area about 10 miles south of Dateland in search of a group of illegal immigrants in March 2006 when he ran over Torralva and his daughter, who had previously entered the country illegally from Mexico, according to the report. Cruz Torralva suffered spinal fractures but survived.

  The patrol previously said Garcia never saw the father and daughter because they were hidden behind a bush that was in the path of the vehicle.

  But the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Cruz-Torralva by Yuma attorney Candy Camarena, alleges that Garcia was driving the vehicle at such a high rate of speed that he could not control it or avoid hitting the two.

  "There are collateral damages to Mr. Cruz Torralva for which he is suing," Camarena said. "He was left incapacitated for life. He returned to Oaxaca, where he is from. He is a peaceful, honest, working man who lost his daughter."

  Above all, he said, "we are trying to send a message to the authorities that these cases should not happen again, that (agents) have to act in a prudent and responsible manner in their work. The Cruzes were not terrorists, nor traffickers, nor did they represent a threat to the country. Nor did they put the safety of the agent at risk."

  Spokesmen for the Border Patrol's Yuma Sector headquarters declined to comment on the lawsuit. Jaime Castillo, spokesman for the Border Patrol in Washington, D.C., said he had no information about the lawsuit and could not comment.

  Named with the patrol and Garcia as defendants are the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection.

  The lawsuit seeks unspecified compensatory damages for Cruz Torralva for crippling injuries and for the death of his daughter.

  "The fact that he didn't follow the legal process for immigrating to the country is no justification for taking the life of his daughter and leaving him incapacitated for life," Camarena said.

  After the accident, Cruz Torralva was detained by the sheriff's office on suspicion of felony endangerment in his daughter's death, but the county attorney's office declined to file charges for lack of evidence. Cruz Torralva was then deported.

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Cesar Neyoy is a staff writer for Bajo El Sol, The Sun's Spanish-language sister publication.