U.S. Border Patrol agents saved the life of a driver involved in a rollover accident in south Texas. Agents often provide support to the local community in addition to their border security duties.
Agents working out of the Falfurrias Border Patrol station in Brooks County responded a call from a local rancher about a rollover accident. The accident occurred near the town of Encino on Farm to Market Road 755, south of Falfurrias and just south of the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint location.
When the agents arrived, they observed the vehicle had rolled several times and had caught on fire. They found the driver near the burning vehicle. He had suffered head injuries, neck injuries and a broken arm.
Single-car rollover accident and fire. (Photo: U.S. Border Patrol/BORSTAR)
The agents used their emergency medical training to provide assistance to the injured man. Air Med EMS eventually transported the injured driver to a local hospital for treatment.
Brooks County spans roughly 950 square miles of rural areas. Falfurrias is located in the far northern part of the county, where responding EMS volunteers and law enforcement can often be 30 to 45 minutes away. The resources provided by the U.S. Border Patrol are often the first to arrive upon vehicle accidents on the rural highways. They also provide additional resources when needed for other emergencies.
Breitbart Texas observed a search for an elderly woman from Encino who had wandered from her home in 2014. Brooks County deputies responded to the scene and began to search for the woman. Border Patrol agents arrived and provided additional manpower for the search, employing the Aerostat observation system and a helicopter to provide additional visibility. The woman was found safely and returned to her home.
“The Border Patrol is a valuable resource to our community,” Brooks County Sheriff-elect Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas in an interview on Tuesday. “We are a very poor County financially. Their extra manpower and their saturation throughout the county can mean the difference between life and death to people in some of the remote areas of the county. Because of the number of agents working in our county and their distribution throughout the county, Border Patrol agents are often the first to respond in an event like this. Their training, expertise, equipment, and manpower are an invaluable asset to our community.”
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas. He is a founding member of the Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.