3-County Pursuit Leads to Smuggler's Arrest in Texas 160 Miles from Border

A suspected human smuggler is in a South Texas jail after leading police on a pursuit that raced through three counties. The pursuit began when the suspected smuggler refused to stop for a traffic violation and ended with the arrest of the smuggler and five migrants.

Medina County Sheriff’s Office deputies attempted to stop a white Dodge Ram pickup for a traffic violation on Tuesday, KENS CBS5 in San Antonio reported. The driver fled into neighboring Atascosa County where he drove through a ranch, stopping long enough to drop off four migrants.

The driver took off again and led law enforcement officers into Bexar County and the outskirts of San Antonio — approximately 160 miles from the Texas-Mexico border. The pursuit reached speeds up to 80 miles per hour, officials reported.

The driver turned around and led police back into Atascosa County where officers deployed spike strips along Highway 16 to stop the fleeing vehicle. The deputies arrested the driver, a resident of Carrizo Springs, Texas.

During a search of the Ram truck, officials found another migrant hiding under the truck’s toolbox.

The driver now faces state charges for human smuggling and evading arrest, officials stated. Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents took custody of the five migrants.

Medina County Sheriff Randy Brown told KENS the human smuggling high-speed pursuits are “hard to keep up with.” He said this was the fifth pursuit in his county in the past 24 hours.

A few days earlier, another human smuggling pursuit nearly ended in tragedy with the 15-year-old suspected smuggler allegedly attempted to run down a Texas DPS trooper and a Kinney County deputy after a pursuit, Breitbart Texas’ Randy Clark reported. Police fired several rounds at the driver to avoid being struck by the vehicle.

The suspected human smuggler is reported to be in stable condition after being shot twice in the chest and one in the arm.

Deputies arrested three migrants following the pursuit. Two other migrants managed to escape.

Kinney County Sheriff Brad Coe told Breitbart his seven-deputy department is also having difficulty dealing with the increase in human smuggling activity in his area.