High-speed Chase in Texas Ends in 6 Fatalities, Including Some Minors

A high-speed chase involving Texas Department of Public Safety troopers Monday afternoon in South Texas left six people dead.

KRGV-TV reported that the chase resulted in a violent crash with a pickup truck and sports utility vehicle at the intersection of Western and Mile 7 roads in Hidalgo County. Several other vehicles were involved in the accident as well.

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Troopers chased the truck, which authorities told local news website The Monitor.com was stolen out of Alton, Texas. The driver drove it into the intersection, where the truck failed to yield for traffic and struck three vehicles.

Troopers said that the driver of the stolen truck, who has not been identified, tried to flee the accident on foot before state troopers caught him, where he was arrested and transported to the hospital for injuries.

Media reports did not identify the victims, but several of them were minors. 

"I could see the little feet of the children just scattered around, and the head of a little girl and well just pieces of little feet and hands," a witness told KFXV-TV.

Some witnesses said they were upset with troopers because they didn't attempt to divert the chase away from a busy intersection.

"They were screaming and calling the authorities murderers, telling them that because of them this happened, chasing people in such a high traffic area," a witness told KFXV-TV.

Law enforcement chases are common in western Hidalgo County because the area is near a gap in the border fence between Texas and Mexico.

The Texas Tribune reported in 2010 that troopers in Hidalgo County logged far more high-speed chases between January 2005 and July 2010 compared to officers in any other region of the state. 

Hidalgo County accounted for 13 percent of Texas trooper chases. Of the 10 counties with the most chases in the state, five were counties along the Texas-Mexico border.

"We’re the first line of defense out here," Texas state trooper Johnny Hernandez said in 2010, adding that drug smuggling is a common activity because of the open border. "We’re going to have pursuits."

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