YUMA, AZ.-On April 3, 2023, at approximately 3:37 p.m., a Border Patrol agent assigned to the Yuma Station patrolling the International Border Fence observed footprints leading north from the border fence. The agent followed the prints approximately 100 yards to an area located near Avenue 1E, approximately 4.5 miles southeast of the Highway 195 and South Avenue B intersection, near San Luis, Ariz. The agent then observed a male subject lying under a bush. The agent gave the man commands to stand up; the man complied but requested assistance to stand. At this point the man was awake and coherent with no visible physical injuries apparent. The agent took the man, a Mexican national, into custody and escorted him to a marked U.S. Border Patrol vehicle. The man complained to the agent that he did not feel well once inside the vehicle and requested medical assistance. At this point the man began to lose consciousness.
The agent requested via radio, at 3:41 p.m., for San Luis Emergency Medical Services to be dispatched and transported the man to the intersection of South Avenue B and Highway 195 to meet the ambulance. EMS arrived at 3:51 p.m. and transported the man to the Yuma Regional Medical Center for further treatment, arriving at 4:14 p.m. The agent followed the ambulance to the hospital and established a hospital watch. Medical staff at the hospital reported cocaine in the man’s system.
Yuma Regional Medical Center medical staff declared the man brain dead at approximately 1:33 p.m. on April 4. Prosecutorial discretion was exercised and the man was released from U.S. Border Patrol custody on April 5. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility received information on April 19 from the Yuma County Medical Examiner’s Office stating the man was pronounced deceased at 2:28 p.m. on April 7.
This incident is under review by the Yuma County Medical Examiner’s Office and CBP’s Office of Professional Responsibility. The Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General was also notified.