Fleeing vehicle crashes after B.P. agents spike tires

A man and woman were seriously injured in a crash Thursday morning when Border Patrol agents that were pursuing the pair’s vehicle used a spike strip on a roadway east of Chula Vista, authorities said.

The incident began around 9:15 a.m. when agents attempted to stop the vehicle on Otay Lakes Road along the northeastern edge of Lower Otay Lake, according to Tekae Michael, a Border Patrol special operations supervisor.

The woman driving stopped momentarily, allowing four people to jump out of the back seat and run off, Michael said in a statement. The driver then sped away, heading west toward Chula Vista, with the agents in pursuit.

Agents ahead of the chase placed spike stripes in the road about a halfmile from where the pursuit began. After driving over the spikes, the driver lost control of the vehicle, Michael said.

Footage from OnScene TV showed it ended up on its side in some brush off the roadway.

Agents helped extricate the driver and the passenger, a man, and requested medical aid, Michael said. Paramedics took them to a hospital with serious but non-life-threatening injuries.

Both the driver and her passenger were U.S. citizens, Michael said.

Agents searched the area, with help from a helicopter crew, but were unable to locate the four people who ran.