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

A U S Customs and Frontier Protection officer wears a patch on their sleeve Photo courtesy of Customs and Frontier 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 Demarcation Patrol last Oct after he was spotted loading the settlers into his car near the U S -Mexico territory line according to the U S Attorney s Office In court documents prosecutors wrote that a Territory line Patrol agent attempted to pull Palomera s car over on state Course 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 carriage and the agent s then sped away through a red light at the off-ramp intersection and got back onto state Course Details pulled from the car s airbag sensor later revealed the car reached speeds of over mph according to prosecutors The Frontier 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 Trail One of the transients 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 Amenity contributed to this article