On the morning of May 12, 2011, Border Patrol Agent Hector R. Clark, and his partner Lead Border Patrol Agent Eduardo Rojas, Jr., were killed when their government vehicle was struck by a freight train. The accident occurred near the intersection of Interstate 8 and Paloma Road, approximately nine miles west of Gila Bend, Arizona. Agents Clark and Rojas were assisting other agents in pursuit of a group of suspected illegal aliens at the time of the accident.
Agent Clark, a native of the Yuma, Arizona community, began his career with the U.S. Border Patrol on August 20, 2001, as a member of the 481st Session of the Border Patrol Academy. Following his graduation, he was assigned to the El Centro Station in the El Centro Sector. At the time of his death, he was assigned to the Yuma Station in the Yuma Sector. Agent Clark was 39 years old and is survived by his wife and two children.