Christopher Imanoel Torres-Raya, 19, and Johana Marie Gonzales, 20, both of Austin, were booked into the La Salle County Jail last week on smuggling charges, officials said.
A La Salle County sheriff's deputy tried to stop a dark 2014 Ford Taurus shortly after 6 a.m. on Tuesday, October 27, for a traffic violation, according to Deputy Cesar Valenzuela. He said the car was traveling without its lights on in the northbound IH-35 lanes and sped up when the deputy tried to halt it. Valenzuela and other La Salle officers and Texas DPS troopers pursued the car at least 34 miles into Frio County, where officers recorded speeds over 100 miles per hour.
Frio County deputies joined the chase near Pearsall and used tire-deflating spikes to stop the car near Milemarker 98. Officers at the scene said six men in camouflage clothing ran from the car and into nearby brush, and that some of the men appeared to have been riding in the trunk. Border Patrol agents identified the six men as undocumented immigrants. One man was taken by ambulance to Frio Regional Hospital in Pearsall for evaluation, and the men were turned over to Border Patrol custody.