A head-on collision between a Dulzura woman and a suspected migrant smuggler landed the woman in the hospital.
But instead of blaming the smuggler for her troubles, the woman said it is the Border Patrol’s fault.
Yolanda Jaco was on her way home from work on Tuesday night when the crash happened.
As she drove past Jamul eastbound on Highway 94 -- just minutes from her home in Dulzura -- she said saw the headlights coming at her.
The next thing Jaco remembered, she said, was being in a lot of pain and Border Patrol agents screaming at a suspected migrant smuggler.
“I can’t work. I can’t do anything, you know? I can’t even clean myself up or feed myself sometimes,” said Jaco.
She said her world had been turned upside down.
Jaco said the Border Patrol is to blame for her pain and suffering.
Just after midnight on Tuesday, the suspected smuggler failed to stop for agents at the checkpoint in Dulzura and sped away.
The agents saw what was going on and got in their cars, according to the Border Patrol.
They then followed the suspected smuggler’s vehicle, trying to catch up.
But when they caught up to the car, the accident had just taken place.
“She could be dead,” said Jaco’s mother, Rosa Stilson.
Neither Jaco nor her mother believed the Border Patrol’s account, they said.
“If you look at the checkpoint and the place where the driver hit me, that is a long way. They could have stopped the driver some how,” Jaco said.
The distance from the checkpoint to the accident scene is about nine miles.
The Border Patrol said the suspect had too much of a head start and the winding and twisting parts of Highway 94 prevented agents from gaining ground.
A representative from the Border Patrol told 10News that the agents did all they could do and feel bad about what happened, but there was nothing they could have done to avoid the accident.
Copyright 2006 by 10News.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
