La Joya police: Teen who fled was smuggling immigrants (The Monitor)

La Joya police: Teen who fled was smuggling immigrants
April 11, 2011 7:38 PM
Naxiely Lopez
The Monitor

LA JOYA — Police believe a 16-year-old who led them on a chase was transporting undocumented immigrants Saturday morning, police Chief Jose Del Angel said.

The 16-year-old was charged with evading arrest after he led police on a chase that began near the 100 block of Highway 83 and ended near the Showers Road exit in Mission, police said. Officials could not release the suspect’s name because he is considered a juvenile.

The teenager, who was driving a green Ford F-150 pickup truck, was carrying nine immigrants — two of them from India and the rest from Mexico — inside the vehicle and in the truck’s bed, police said.

As soon as the suspect stopped, five of the immigrants could be seen on police surveillance video jumping out of the bed of the vehicle and running. Police, however, were able to catch all of them and transferred them into the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Del Angel said.

The teen was transferred to a juvenile detention center in Edinburg, Del Angel said.