On Thursday October 11, 2012 at approximately 5:28 a.m. a patrol deputy initiated a traffic stop on a white Chevrolet truck on Interstate-10 near, mile marker 198 for a traffic violation. The vehicle had been observed by the deputy weaving outside of the lane on several occasions.

When the deputy turned on his emergency lights, the truck accelerated to over 100 mph in an attempt to evade the deputy. The truck continued westbound on Interstate-10 until it was near the exit at McCartney Road. The vehicle failed to stay on the roadway and instead drove through the right-away-fence and continued driving in a northeasterly direction through the desert at a high rate of speed.

Members of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office, Casa Grande Police Department, the United States Border Patrol and PCSO Air Unit responded to assist.

The truck was located abandoned in the desert area near Woodruff Road and Cox Road. Law enforcement members began searching the area and located two individuals. The individuals had told the deputies they were part of a group of twenty persons. The individuals said they were all from Mexico and had crossed into the United States illegally.

The two individuals were turned over the to the U.S. Border Patrol for deportation. The other individuals were never located.

Sheriff Paul Babeu stated, “On July 7th, 2011 myself and several law enforcement officials met with Secretary Janet Napolitano in person regarding our southern border. Secretary Napolitano told our group we are never going to seal the border, and since the beginning of time, we’ve always had contraband going through it. I along with most Americans wonder how the person in charge of securing the border can say we can’t do it. The border can be secured. It has already happened in the Yuma Sector where border crossings have been reduced by 96%. Why can we put 28,000 soldiers in Korea to secure and protect their border but we can’t put 6,000 here to protect our own border?”