Human Smuggler Deliberately Crashes into Border Patrol SUV in Texas

A human smuggler allegedly drove his SUV directly into a U.S. Border Patrol vehicle while attempting to avoid apprehension. The head-on collision left no one with serious injuries.

Laredo Sector Chief Patrol Agent Carl E. Landrum tweeted photos from a human smuggling incident where the driver allegedly crashed his SUV head-on into a Border Patrol vehicle. Responding agents arrested the driver and a group of migrants.

A Laredo North Station agent observed multiple migrants running from the bank of the Rio Grande “toward a known location for its illicit activity.” Other agents in the area quickly responded and observed a vehicle loading up the migrants.

As the agents approach, the alleged smuggler attempted to flee and “struck the Border Patrol Service unit head-on,” Landrum reported. The collision stopped the smuggler from escaping the area. A photo shows the Border Patrol vehicle’s driver’s side airbag deployed from the impact.

Responding agents quickly apprehended seven migrants from undisclosed nations. The agents also arrested the smuggler for transporting the migrants and assaulting the Border Patrol agent with his vehicle.

Landrum reported that no serious injuries came to anyone in “this unprovoked attack.”

During the recently ended Fiscal Year 22, Border Patrol agents were the recipients of 429 assaults — a record year for assaults on Border Patrol agents, according to a year-end Use of Force report from U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This represents a near 18 percent increase over the previous year. The assaults included 274 physical assaults, 116 assaults by rock or other projectile throwing, 85 by vehicle or vessel, 12 by firearms, five by knife or other edged weapons, and 65 classified as “other.”