Smuggler Sentenced for Otay Mesa high-speed crash that killed two migrants

A U S Customs and Edge Protection officer wears a patch on their sleeve Photo courtesy of Customs and Confines Protection A Chula Vista man who crashed while fleeing Frontier Patrol officers killing two undocumented passengers was sentenced Wednesday to nearly six years in federal prison Sergio Josue Palomera fled from Limit Patrol last Oct after he was spotted loading the displaced persons into his car near the U S -Mexico boundary according to the U S Attorney s Office In court documents prosecutors wrote that a Demarcation Patrol agent attempted to pull Palomera s car over on state Passage in Otay Mesa that afternoon The car initially slowed down and exited the freeway which prosecutors described as a ruse to put distance between Palomera s automobile and the agent s then sped away through a red light at the off-ramp intersection and got back onto state Course Input pulled from the car s airbag sensor later revealed the car reached speeds of over mph according to prosecutors The Territory line Patrol agent drove back onto the freeway but terminated the pursuit after losing sight of Palomera s car About seconds after re-entering the freeway Palomera lost control of the car and it rolled over in the westbound lanes of state Track One of the immigrants a -year-old woman was ejected from the car and died at the scene The other migrant a -year-old man died at a hospital that night Palomera pleaded guilty earlier this year to transportation of certain aliens resulting resulting in death and was sentenced Wednesday to months in prison City News Organization contributed to this article