seruriermarshal
07-30-2004, 06:12 AM
Unmanned drone helps in border arrest
advertisement
Fleeing suspect caught by Patrol
Susan Carroll
Republic Tucson Bureau
Jul. 24, 2004 12:00 AM
TUCSON - The U.S. Border Patrol's new unmanned drone helped agents track down a smuggling suspect accused of running a police officer off a dirt road and throwing rocks at a helicopter, authorities said.
Federal agents arrested a 32-year-old Mexican man after he tried to flee from a Huachuca City Police Department officer on Thursday, authorities said. The officer called the Border Patrol for backup after spotting a stolen Ford F250 at 10:48 p.m. headed north on Arizona 90, said Huachuca police Lt. Joseph Glowacki.
The driver refused to pull over and sped west on Arizona 82 before turning down a dirt road and forcing the officer into a steel gatepost, Glowacki said. The officer was not injured, but lost sight of the truck, he said.
The Border Patrol's Hermes 450 unmanned drone spotted the pickup truck on a remote dirt road and tracked it as agents arrived on the ground. A Border Patrol A-Star helicopter arrived and a pilot told agents the truck had stopped and people were jumping out and running into the brush.
The helicopter picked up two agents and dropped them off in the area because it was difficult to reach on the ground. As the helicopter was taking off, the smuggling suspect came out of the brush and started throwing "softball-sized" rocks at the helicopter's main rotor blades, said Andrea Zortman, a U.S. Border Patrol spokeswoman.
The man, who was not identified Friday, was in federal custody and likely will be charged with "destruction of a federal aircraft," "felony alien smuggling" and "re-entry of an aggravated felon," Zortman said.
The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were launched in Arizona June 25 and mark the first time the federal government has used the unmanned drones along the roughly 1,950-mile Southwestern border.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0724UAV24.html)
advertisement
Fleeing suspect caught by Patrol
Susan Carroll
Republic Tucson Bureau
Jul. 24, 2004 12:00 AM
TUCSON - The U.S. Border Patrol's new unmanned drone helped agents track down a smuggling suspect accused of running a police officer off a dirt road and throwing rocks at a helicopter, authorities said.
Federal agents arrested a 32-year-old Mexican man after he tried to flee from a Huachuca City Police Department officer on Thursday, authorities said. The officer called the Border Patrol for backup after spotting a stolen Ford F250 at 10:48 p.m. headed north on Arizona 90, said Huachuca police Lt. Joseph Glowacki.
The driver refused to pull over and sped west on Arizona 82 before turning down a dirt road and forcing the officer into a steel gatepost, Glowacki said. The officer was not injured, but lost sight of the truck, he said.
The Border Patrol's Hermes 450 unmanned drone spotted the pickup truck on a remote dirt road and tracked it as agents arrived on the ground. A Border Patrol A-Star helicopter arrived and a pilot told agents the truck had stopped and people were jumping out and running into the brush.
The helicopter picked up two agents and dropped them off in the area because it was difficult to reach on the ground. As the helicopter was taking off, the smuggling suspect came out of the brush and started throwing "softball-sized" rocks at the helicopter's main rotor blades, said Andrea Zortman, a U.S. Border Patrol spokeswoman.
The man, who was not identified Friday, was in federal custody and likely will be charged with "destruction of a federal aircraft," "felony alien smuggling" and "re-entry of an aggravated felon," Zortman said.
The unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were launched in Arizona June 25 and mark the first time the federal government has used the unmanned drones along the roughly 1,950-mile Southwestern border.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From (http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/local/articles/0724UAV24.html)