In less than four hours on Wednesday night, three separate human smuggling events in Cochise County ended in arrests near the Arizona / Mexico border.
At approximately 9:45 p.m., members of the Operation Safe Streets task force attempted a traffic stop of passenger vehicle on State Route 92 and Kings Ranch Road in Hereford south of Sierra Vista.
The driver of the 2010 Chrysler sedan failed to yield to the fully marked patrol vehicle, after which tire deflation devised were utilized to disable the Chrysler. The 19-year-old male driver, who was identified as a U.S. citizen from New Mexico, was taken into custody along with seven undocumented non-citizens (UNCs) found in the vehicle.
The driver was arrested by a Sierra Vista police officer for felony failure to yield along with seven counts of endangerment. He is expected to have an initial court appearance on Thursday morning.
Operation Safe Streets is a multiagency law enforcement project comprised of agents, deputies, and officers from the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office, U.S. Border Patrol, Arizona Department of Public Safety, and the Sierra Vista Police Department.
Around 7 p.m. Wednesday, the task force was notified that personnel with the USBP station near the border in Naco had been alerted to several individuals exiting the brush and getting into a large SUV traveling on State Route 92.
Officers converged on the area near Rio Vista west of Bisbee, with a USBP agent arriving on scene first, according to a statement released by the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.
The agent, who was driving a fully marked Chevy Silverado, activated his emergency lights and sirens but the suspect SUV sped around the patrol vehicle. The SUV’s driver, later identified as Christian Fernando Torres Lagarda, came off a side road onto the highway “at a high rate of speed,” causing the 20-year-old driver to lose control.
All the occupants then bailed out of the SUV, with six UNCs apprehended about 50 years away. The driver was also located near the scene. He was determined to be in the U.S. illegally as well.
The seven people from the SUV were transported to the nearby USBP Brian Terry Station in Naco for processing.
One hour earlier, Operation Safe Streets Task Force members conducted a traffic stop along State Route 92 near Brown Canyon Road in the area of the Coronado National Monument. The driver of a 2005 Dodge Durango heeded the lights and sirens, after which is was determined four UNCs were in the vehicle.
The 25-year-old female driver was arrested as was a 43-year-old female passenger, both from Tucson. The women and the four UNCs were turned over to USBP officials for processing.
