Deaths Heat Up Debate on Border Patrol Chase Policy

TEMECULA, Calif. —  The city manager of Temecula on Tuesday angrily demanded a review of the Border Patrol’s vehicle pursuit policies, reigniting a debate over chases in densely populated areas near immigration checkpoints.

“I want to really examine their policies,” City Manager Donald Dixon said. “If their policies say: ‘We can go as fast as we want to,’ I want to say: ‘Not in my town.’ ”

His city of 32,000 had just lost four high school students and a local banker who were killed in an intersection where a truck fleeing immigration authorities apparently sped through a red light.

It is not the first time a Border Patrol chase brought death to a bystander in the town, according to Dixon and trustees of the Temecula Valley Unified School District. In February, 1990, a pregnant woman was killed during a pursuit, Dixon said.

“This tragedy forces us to ask our government to re-evaluate the policies that we have about open or closed borders to the south of us,” school board President David Eurich said tearfully at the board’s regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday evening.

The Border Patrol could not confirm the 1990 deaths. A spokesman said the agency has been reviewing its chase policy and that the deaths Tuesday will prompt further review.

“The policy is being discussed,” spokesman Steve Kean said. “We are looking for alternatives on how to handle pursuits.”

Temecula is along Interstate 15 near a Border Patrol freeway checkpoint. Nearer the coast, San Clemente officials have a longstanding dispute with the Border Patrol over high-speed chases prompted by illegal immigrants who run the Interstate 5 checkpoint near San Onofre.

Several fatal and serious accidents in San Clemente in the past five years have prompted protests from city officials, who have pressured the Border Patrol to use restraint.

There have been at least 21 fatalities related to Border Patrol chases since 1980 in California.

Roberto Martinez, a San Diego-based migrant advocate who helped author a recent study condemning chase-related deaths, said: “We have been making recommendations for the last 10 years about these high-speed chases, about letting trained law enforcement personnel like the CHP take over and reduce fatalities by using helicopters and other means. The Border Patrol uses a reckless form of hot pursuit that endangers people.”

Another argument by critics is that that the Border Patrol should be particularly cautious because agents are often pursing people whose have only crossed the border illegally, not criminals.

But Kean said that argument ignores the smugglers who frequently are at the wheel and who often commit other crimes. The Chevrolet Suburban involved in the Temecula accident had been stolen a week earlier in Orange County.

Agency policy calls for agents to break off chases if they feel an undue hazard exists, Kean said. That does not mean agents are prohibited from pursuing suspects into residential neighborhoods or near schools, he said.

“It’s left to the discretion of the agent,” Kean said. “The agent has to consider traffic, the time of day, if it is in a school zone, among other factors.”

In the Temecula accident, officials said, the pursuing Border Patrol vehicle slowed down after its emergency lights and siren failed. The agents were following, not chasing, a quarter-mile behind the suspects when the Suburban plowed into a car in front of the high school, officials said.

Rotella reported from San Diego, Tessler from Temecula. Times staff writer Mike Granberry also contributed to this story.