A 30-year-old Brownsville man who led authorities on a chase past an elementary school that reached speeds of 100 mph and ended in a crash that sent six people to the hospital will spend nearly five years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Rolando Olvera on Wednesday sentenced Manuel Hernandez Jr. to four years and seven months in federal prison on a charge of transporting people in the country illegally for financial gain.
Hernandez pleaded guilty on April 13 and during his sentencing, federal prosecutors moved to dismiss three other smuggling charges, which Olvera granted, court records indicate.
The chase began on March 1 at approximately 2:41 p.m. when Border Patrol agents were alerted to a drawbridge activation that indicated several people were running north along Los Fresnos Pump Road, according to a criminal complaint.
That document said agents responded and Hernandez, who was driving erratically, took off.
Rodriguez, the judge, heard about the chase during the sentencing, according to a news release from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Texas.
“At the hearing, the court heard how surveillance video caught Hernandez racing past Garden Park Elementary at 96 mph in a red Chevy Tahoe just 30 minutes before school release,” the release stated.
Seconds later, additional surveillance video showed Hernandez crashing into another vehicle before taking off on foot.
The judge also heard testimony about the life-threatening injuries the other driver sustained, including a punctured lung, a damaged vocal cord, severe head trauma, four broken ribs, a broken clavicle, a broken scapula and broken teeth.
Rodriguez also heard about how Hernandez admitted to three other smuggling incidents.
He ordered Hernandez to pay the other driver $7,478.24 in restitution and an additional $970 to the Brownsville Fire Department for a total of $8,498.24, according to court records.
Hernandez, who has remained in custody since his arrest, will also serve three years supervised release with numerous conditions following the conclusion of his prison sentence, court records indicate.
