Around 1:30 pm on Sunday afternoon, May 16 another high speed pursuit was headed out of Devine toward Jourdanton on Hwy 173. The pursuit veered off onto CR 7711 just outside Devine, and witnesses say between 8 to 10 illegal immigrants bailed out in all directions near the creek crossing. When one of the fleeing men came running straight up to a driver’s pickup truck and tried to get inside, he was held at gun point until DPS arrived to make the arrest.
Three undocumented immigrants were detained by DPS, as well as the driver, who was charged with three counts of Smuggling and Evading Arrest. A few more undocumented immigrants in this pursuit are still at-large as well. While the country of origin is unknown in this case at this time, some sources say a majority of undocumented immigrants who have been captured recently in our area are from Central America. Another man was arrested at the scene on three counts of smuggling and evading arrest. That was the second smuggling arrest made last week. There have been an estimated 12-13 pursuits in the past month involving Medina County deputies.
“I was just about 70 yards behind them when they started jumping out of a newer model Chevy pickup truck near Chacon Creek. Several went over the fence to the right, and a couple to the left, and one man came running straight at me. When he reached for my door handle, I reached for my pistol and held it up to the glass. He stopped, put his hands up and got down on the ground until DPS got there. They are the real heroes. It’s a sad deal what’s going on right now, but one thing for sure, it’s costing us a lot,” Mr. Toalson said.
“When I got home I told my wife I’m sure glad it was me and not her or my daughter or anyone else who wasn’t prepared for something like that to happen. I don’t know what he was thinking he was going to do, because he could see me sitting there in my truck, I don’t have any window tints or anything. I drive an older truck so I don’t have any power locks either, so pulling out my pistol was the fastest thing I could do. It all happened in a flash, maybe 90 seconds,” Toalson added.
“Things have really gotten active since mid-December,” Toalson said. “I can see where they’ve come through my pastures 2 or 3 times a week. You can see the tracks or where they’ve cut or knocked down a fence for a large group to come through. I had a cow get out on the highway not too long ago because of that. There are jackets, soda bottles, blankets, all kinds of things left in the pastures. But what can we do? Border Patrol, DPS, Sheriff, everyone’s overwhelmed right now.”
The second smuggling arrest was made for an outstanding warrant of a case that came up I-35 thru here back in March. The pursuit of this smuggler began in Frio County and continued up I-35, exiting at Loop 1604 and crashed through gas pumps, resulting in an explosion. He was reportedly attempting to jump out of the vehicle before it hit the pumps, but got caught in the seatbelt and injured.
The border issues are bleeding steadily into Frio and Medina Counties and further and further north. Departments all over the entire State are rotating boots on the ground to help at the border and/or the capitol for increased patrol.
