SAN BENITO – Several law enforcement agencies spent the afternoonsearching a sugar cane field looking for a man who fled the scene of an accident this afternoon.
He was found several hours later by a U.S. Border Patrol canine unit and arrested.
San Benito and Harlingen police, along with Border Patrol agents and Texas Department of Public Safety troopers searched for the Hispanic man who fled the scene of accident about six miles north of U.S. Military Highway on FM 509 and FM 800 in front of a church.
San Benito Assistant Police Chief Micheal Galvan said the driver of a brown van ran a stop sign and collided with an 18-wheeler.
He said the van slid under the tractor-trailer rig hitting the last axle “clobbering” the van, Galvan said.
He said man continued driving after being hit. They say he eventually stopped the vehicle and ran away from the scene on foot, staggering and possibly injured.
Galvan said the man appeared to be 18 to 20 years old and “does not appear to be a U.S. citizen.”
He said the man turned down medical treatment. The female passenger was transported to Valley Baptist Medical Center. Her injuries are not known at this time.
Police blocked off the area to all traffic and are using ATVs to search a nearby sugar cane filed. Police did not have a description of the man in question.
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