Pearsall chase reveals 16 in freighter cab

Sixteen undocumented immigrants were discovered in the cab of a stolen freight truck on Saturday evening, June 17, after the driver led police on a high-speed pursuit that ended in a crash on the west side of Pearsall. State troopers reported that they attempted to initiate a traffic stop in the northbound lanes of IH-35 near Milemarker 81 shortly before midnight and were unsuccessful, as the driver led law enforcement on a nearly 30-mile high-speed pursuit. According to a report at the Frio County Sheriff’s Office, deputies began to assist state troopers near Milemarker 86 and Pearsall Police deployed a tire-deflation device near Milemarker 97. The driver took a highway exit at Frio Regional Park, traveled along FM 1581 into Pearsall, along Comal Street and through several residential neighborhoods on the west side of town at a high rate of speed, the report indicated. According to the sheriff’s office, the driver turned onto Elm Street, crossed over Oak Street and traveled north on Ash Street before turning left onto Trinity Street and entering the west-side neighborhood. Video surveillance footage from a state trooper’s dash camera shows the freighter knocking down stop signs and running over curbs before coming to a stop at the intersection of Sanchez and Govea streets. The driver was able to evade arrest by absconding into the dimly lit neighborhood. Deputies said that witnesses reported seeing a man running on Willow and Colorado streets shortly after the freight truck came to stop.

The sixteen men and women found crammed inside the cab of the truck were taken into custody by US Border Patrol agents. “We will continue to assist all agencies in this constant threat to our county,” Frio Chief Deputy Peter Salinas said. “All tactics used by our deputies in these types of cases are predicated on how to end the threat without unnecessary danger to our people.”