100-mile chase ends in Frio crash

A San Antonio woman was taken into custody Friday, January 19, after leading law enforcement officers on a four-county high-speed pursuit that ended when she crashed her pickup truck near Pearsall.

Lin Galindo, 42, was remanded into the La Salle County Jail on a third-degree felony charge of evading arrest, a Class B misdemeanor charge of reckless driving, and a drug possession charge after she was found carrying narcotics in her handbag.

Galindo had been listed as wanted in Dimmit County on a second-degree felony charge of human smuggling while fleeing from law enforcement officers.

Investigators examining Friday’s case have indicated they believe Galindo may have been involved in smuggling undocumented immigrants through South Texas in her red 2010 Dodge pickup truck on Friday morning, although no passengers were seen traveling with her or climbing out of the vehicle at any time during the pursuit that stretched over 100 miles.

Sheriff’s deputies in Dimmit and La Salle counties were first alerted to Galindo’s evasive driving shortly after 7 a.m. Friday when she allegedly failed to heed an attempted traffic stop by Texas Highway Patrol troopers and began speeding east on FM 133 between Catarina and Artesia Wells.

Troopers and deputies pursuing Galindo reported that they saw her turn south onto the IH-35 access road at Artesia Wells and head towards Encinal and the Webb County line, but lost sight of her vehicle for a period of time.

“She was driving at excessive speed,” La Salle Lt. Homar Olivarez said of the pursuit. “Officers tracked her at over a hundred miles per hour over some distances.”

The lieutenant said that if Galindo offloaded any passengers, it may have occurred while her vehicle was out of officers’ sight in southern La Salle County.

“We don’t know why she turned south on the interstate when she reached Artesia Wells,” Olivarez added. “It may have been due to some confusion over where she was… It’s possible that she didn’t know the area or was traveling at such speed that she took a wrong turn in her haste to evade the law. She must have realized she was heading towards the border, because she turned around after going south for a number of miles.”

The US Border Patrol became involved in the case when agents spotted the Dodge circumventing a border check station on IH-35 in northern Webb County and turning north on the interstate at 7:25 a.m. Officers of the Encinal Police Department then reported seeing the Dodge near Milemarker 41 and likewise joined the pursuit.

Galindo had driven back into La Salle County and faced a gauntlet of law enforcement officers who were prepared to deploy tire-deflating spikes if she continued speeding away from attempted traffic stops.

Pursuing officers reported seeing Galindo endanger other motorists by speeding, weaving between lanes and driving on the roadside shoulder to pass slower-moving vehicles.

La Salle County deputies deployed the spikes near Milemarker 63, four miles south of Cotulla, but were foiled by road conditions and other northbound interstate traffic. Galindo passed the deputies at 100 mph and headed for the Frio County line.

Frio County sheriff’s deputies picked up the pursuit at the Frio river, a short distance north of Dilley and deployed more tire-deflating spikes. This time, Galindo’s truck lost both tires on its passenger side, according to a case report, but the woman continued speeding north.

Officers saw the truck leave the interstate near Derby, crossing the grassy median and continuing north on the IH-35 access road, at times on the opposite side of the road.

Galindo was traveling on a road that would lead her directly onto Oak Street in downtown Pearsall.

A Frio County sheriff’s deputy aimed his patrol cruiser at Galindo’s truck and bumped it, forcing the Dodge off the road near McKinley Airfield. The Dodge plowed into a bar ditch and flipped, landing upside-down in a field. The crash occurred at 8:05 a.m., an hour after the woman had begun the 100-mile attempt at evading the law.

Galindo was treated at the scene by EMS medics, handcuffed and transported to the La Salle County Jail. She is not listed as having suffered serious injury in the crash.

Galindo remained behind bars in lieu of bond Monday.