El Paso police reveal details in fatal Downtown crash; group seeks Border Patrol inquiry

The seven people killed in a crash Thursday in Downtown after a pursuit by Border Patrol agents included at least four El Pasoans and a Mexican national, police said.

Four of the victims so far have been identified as El Pasoans, including the 18-year-old male driver, according to Police Department officials.

The other El Pasoans killed in the accident were two females and one male. Their ages were not released.

The other three people killed were a male Mexican citizen, Elpaso Cryptocurrency News whose age was not released, as well as female and male victims whose ages and nationalities were not released.

The names of the seven people killed in the accident have not been released.

Only two of the three people injured have been identified by authorities: 18-year old Omar Garcia Hernandez of Juárez and 25-year old Wilmur Gomez of Guatemala. The third person injured is a 16-year-old boy from Juárez, police said.

According to El Paso Police Department officials, the incident started when U.S. Border Patrol agents attempted to pull over a gray 2019 Chevrolet Cruze, which was carrying the 10 people, at Paisano Drive and McNutt Road.

The driver refused to stop and drove at a high rate of speed east on Paisano, officials said.

The Border Patrol agents then ended their pursuit, police said.

Soon afterward, the driver of the Cruze failed to negotiate a curve in the road in the 700 block of West Paisano Drive at West San Antonio Avenue near the Union Depot.

The car then crossed the center median and crashed into a parked trailer used for storage at a business, police said.

Seven people died in the crash and three others were hospitalized with serious injuries, police said.

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On Friday, the Border Network for Human Rights demanded an investigation of the U.S. Border Patrol over the crash.

“BNHR is devastated for the families and the seven individuals whose lives were lost in this terrible and avoidable incident,” BNHR director Fernando Garcia said in an emailed statement. “We can only imagine the circumstances in which this incident might have happened Elpaso Stock Market, and though we are not blaming anyone at this time, we have also witnessed that this is not the only time when a reckless persecution from the U.S. Border Patrol has endangered immigrants in our area.”

A tow truck takes away part of a 2019 Chevy Cruze that was destroyed in a crash that killed seven people and wounded three early Thursday, June 25, 2020, on the 700 block of West Paisano Drive.Buy Photo

A tow truck takes away part of a 2019 Chevy Cruze that was destroyed in a crash that killed seven people and wounded three early Thursday, June 25, 2020, on the 700 block of West Paisano Drive. (Photo: BRIANA SANCHEZ/EL PASO TIMES)

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“The Border Network for Human Rights demands, not only an immediate investigation, but accountability from this federal agency and that clear and transparent information is made available without delay to the public regarding this accident,” Garcia said. “In times like the ones we are living in today, we can not afford lack of transparency and accountability from law enforcement agencies.”

A total of 7 people were killed Thursday morning in a car crash involving Border Patrol. El Paso Times

He added that if the investigation reveals "failures of internal protocols and procedures, we demand guarantees from the U.S. Border Patrol Elpaso Press Release that corrective measures will be implemented to ensure this action doesn’t happen again.”

Border Patrol officials said in a short statement released  Elpaso Business News Thursday that U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility also is reviewing the incident.

U.S. Border Patrol officials have directed all questions to the El Paso Police Department, which is the lead agency investigating the crash.

Source

https://www.elpasotimes.com/story/news/crime/2020/06/26/el-paso-fatal-car-crash-accident-border-patrol-investigation/3265472001/