Ramming agents’ vehicles part of a ‘pattern’

By Jonathon Shacat
Wick News Services
Published/Last Modified on Saturday, October 27, 2007 1:07 PM MDT


DOUGLAS — An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesman said the alleged drug smuggler shot by an officer on Thursday belongs to a drug trafficking organization that has resorted to ramming law enforcement vehicles a total of three times in four days in order to escape apprehension in the Douglas area.


An ICE officer shot Ramon Davalos-Lopez, 41, on Thursday because he was driving a stolen pickup truck in a manner that was endangering the lives of law enforcement officials pursuing him, said Carol Capas, spokeswoman for the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office.

Vincent Picard, public affairs officer for ICE, said a suspected smuggler from the same organization rammed pursuing Border Patrol units while fleeing back to Mexico on Monday, and a smuggler intentionally rammed a Douglas police officer’s truck to evade authorities on Wednesday.

“There is definitely a pattern,” he said during a phone interview Friday.

Thursday’s incident started when Davalos-Lopez began traveling at a high rate of speed and erratically driving through residential neighborhoods and school zones while fleeing agents of ICE, Border Patrol and Douglas Police Department.

“After agents attempted to stop the vehicle with tire deflation devices, the driver of the vehicle drove towards the patrol vehicles and agents in a threatening manner before continuing northbound,” Capas said in a press release on Friday.

“One of the ICE agents was able to position his vehicle in front of the suspect while Border Patrol agents were behind it. After determining the suspect was further endangering the law enforcement agents, the ICE agent fired his service weapon striking the suspect in the right arm,” she continues.

Once the vehicle was stopped, Davalos-Lopez was treated for non-life-threatening wounds and airlifted to a Tucson hospital for treatment. He was arrested by ICE.

The incident ended near mile post 4 on Geronimo Trail east of Douglas. The Sheriff’s Office was advised of the incident at about 1:45 p.m. Thursday.

Mile post 4 is located in a rural area. Geronimo Trail is paved eastbound until around mile post 2, at which point it becomes a gravel road.

The only items that remained at the scene Friday morning were some yellow police tape, six surgical gloves, some gauze and four 1-gallon plastic bottles that were half filled with water.

Following the incident, authorities discovered more than 1,000 pounds of marijuana in the truck driven by Davalos-Lopez, Picard said.

The vehicle was recovered by the Sheriff’s Office and will be kept until the conclusion of the investigation, Capas said.

Copyright © 2012 Douglas Dispatch

Comments

    concerned citizen wrote on Oct 30, 2007 10:40 AM:

    " GOOD JOB ALL LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER FOR GETTING THE TRUCK AND THE LOAD. THE PRESIDENT REALLY NEEDS TO SECURE OUR BORDERS OR THE SMUGGLERS MIGHT HIT LITTLE KIDS GETTING OUT OF SCHOOL OR EVEN KILLING SOMEONE JUST FOR MONEY. NICE JOB "

    green a. wrote on Oct 29, 2007 4:47 PM:

    " KUDOS for the feds on this one, job well done. Let's keep up the great work all LEO's....... "

    Gustavo Cantu wrote on Oct 29, 2007 8:43 AM:

    " I think all the drivers were acting as decoys, distracting the officers while someone else with a bigger load crossed. "

    Anonymous wrote on Oct 28, 2007 5:57 AM:

    " So now we get to pay for new police cars because the illegals are using ramming as a technique. Why doesn't our President put some muscle behind closing the borders? "

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