BROWNSVILLE, Texas — A Mexican fisherman is accused of ramming a U.S. Coast Guard boat in an effort to elude capture and flee back to Mexico. The move resulted in one Coast Guard member being injured in the crash after the Mexican boat struck him.
Jose Luis Saucedo Lopez appeared recently before U.S, Magistrate Judge Ronald Morgan who formally charged him one count of resisting the boarding of a ship and set his bond at $5,000 pending a detention hearing at a later date.
Morgan also set the same bond for Margarito Corpus Medel, one of the crew members who is being held as a material witness.
Saucedo Lopez is Mexican national who was allegedly fishing illegally in U.S. waters on the Gulf of Mexico on December 18 on board of a long boat called “lancha” when U.S Coast Guard members tried to stop him using their light and sirens, court records obtained by Breitbart Texas revealed.
Instead of stopping, the fisherman sped off in an effort to evade having his lancha boarded. According to the criminal complaint filed by authorities, Saucedo “maneuvered evasively at a high rate of speed to avoid being boarded.” He eventually rammed the Coast Guard boat on the port side, records state. The lancha landed on the deck of the boat before sliding back into the water and sinking.
During the crash, the Mexican fishing boat struck one of the Coast Guard members who was treated for minor injures. Saucedo and his crew were arrested.
As previously reported by Breitbart Texas, Mexican fisherman routinely sail into U.S. waters and use illegal fishing lines and nets. Coast Guard in the past have ended up seizing the illegal nets that the fishermen have left behind.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award winning journalist with Breitbart Texas you can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.