Tucson Region

5 dead, 22 injured in Sierra Vista crash

Five people were killed and 22 others were injured Saturday when a speeding pickup truck crammed with illegal entrants flipped at a busy Sierra Vista intersection, striking 10 other vehicles, police said. The collision occurred about 11:45 a.m. on Arizona 90 at Buffalo Soldier Trail in front of the east gate to Fort Huachuca, about 60 miles southeast of Tucson. Fort Huachuca's east gate is one of the busiest intersections in Sierra Vista, said Officer Frank Valenzuela, a Department of Public Safety spokesman. Eleven helicopters from Phoenix and Tucson were used to transport 15 level-one trauma patients to University Medical Center, Tucson Medical Center and hospitals in Sierra Vista and Phoenix, Valenzuela said. Level-one patients are those who are most critically injured. On Sunday, officials with the Department of Public Safety said five people were killed in the crash, including three illegal entrants in the truck. The dead included two elderly Huachuca City residents. One of those killed from the truck was a pregnant woman, according to officials. None of injured or killed was identified late Saturday. Most of those injured were riding in the truck, said Deputy Chief Randy Redmond of the Sierra Vista Fire Department, who said the scene was one of "chaos." DPS, Fire Department and U.S. Border Patrol officials said last night that it was too soon to say how many were in the truck. The stolen truck was speeding on Arizona 90 when Cochise County Sheriff's Department deputies started pursuit, Valenzuela said. As the truck neared Sierra Vista, deputies backed off the pursuit, he said. Investigators think the truck was still speeding when it ran into spikes put in the road by Sierra Vista police trying to stop it, Valenzuela said. The driver then lost control of the truck, which rolled several times, causing collisions with the 10 other vehicles, Valenzuela said. Nearly all of Sierra Vista's emergency-response resources as well as those from surrounding communities were dispatched, as well as law-enforcement and medical personnel from other agencies. Redmond said the collision scene was "chaos," stretching for more than 75 yards, with dead bodies on the perimeter and injured people lying all over, and more than 100 bystanders, many trying to help. One passenger from the back of the truck was thrown out and flew into another vehicle through the windshield, where he became trapped, Redmond said. The truck's driver ran away and has not been caught, though Border Patrol agents searched the area. With local DPS officers overtaxed, a special investigations unit from Phoenix was sent in, Valenzuela said. The wreck was the first fatal rollover for illegal crossers in the Border Patrol's Tucson Sector in the fiscal year that started Oct. 1, said Andy Adame, an agency spokesman. Last year, at least 32 illegal border crossers died in vehicle wrecks, predominantly roll-overs.