John R. McCravey

On February 20, 1987, Border Patrol Agent John R. McCravey was signcutting near Highway 98, east of Calexico, California. Agent McCravey joined a vehicle pursuit which involved an auto suspected of transporting a group of smuggled aliens. The driver of the fleeing vehicle turned south on a dirt road leading back to the All American Canal, which serves as a boundary between Mexico and the United States. The billowing dust cloud made by the fleeing vehicle prevented Agent McCravey from clearly seeing the road. The reduced visibility may have contributed to his ability to react to a change in roadway grade and a turn in the road. Agent McCravey lost control of his vehicle, which overturned and rolled into the All American Canal, where it became submerged upside down. Fellow officers and farm workers successfully removed Agent McCravey and the three illegal aliens he had arrested prior to getting involved in the pursuit from the vehicle. Agent McCravey died three days later in a San Diego, California hospital.