A U.S. Customs and Border Protection bust found nearly half a ton of fentanyl hidden in a trailer on the Arizona-Mexico border.
A man died after jumping out of a moving vehicle in an apparent human smuggling incident in March, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a report on Tuesday.
Officials said that on March 6, around 5:51 p.m., a U.S. Border Patrol operator, who was monitoring CBP's remote video surveillance system, reported a potential human smuggling at a gas station in Lukeville, Arizona. The operator saw a man and woman in a gray Nissan Altima that was "suspected of transporting undocumented migrants and advised agents of the suspected human smuggling activity," the statement said.
Some minutes later, a Border Patrol agent saw the vehicle traveling northbound on SR 85 at about 65 mph and requested a check on the vehicle. During this time, the statement said another Border Patrol agent began to follow the first agent and the Nissan Altima.
The Nissan Altima then slowed to about 45 mph, and the woman and man jumped out of the right door of the moving car, officials said.
They said the Border Patrol agent who had first followed the Nissan Altima continued to follow the car, which sped away from the scene. Later the two remaining occupants were arrested, the statement read.
The second Border Patrol agent stopped to help the man and woman who had exited the car. The woman who exited the vehicle appeared to only have minor injuries, while the man was bleeding from his face, struggling to breathe and was unconscious, officials said.
Ajo Ambulance Services and Border Patrol agent Emergency Medical Technicians responded to the incident and continued to provide medical care to the man until he was taken to the Ajo Airport about an hour later. The man was then taken to Banner University Hospital in Phoenix by helicopter. A Federal Protective Service officer then "established hospital watch on behalf of CBP," the statement said. He was moved to the ICU about three hours later.
Two days later, doctors determined the man had suffered a permanent loss of brain function, and he was pronounced dead at 10 a.m., the report said.
The Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner performed an autopsy a couple days later, which determined the man's cause of death to be complications caused by blunt force trauma.
CBP's Office of Professional Responsibility and Homeland Security Investigations agents interviewed the woman who exited the car. The report said both the man and woman were "undocumented non-citizens from Mexico." The woman said the driver told her to get out of the vehicle.
The incident was being investigated by HSI and the Arizona Department of Public Safety.