At roughly 2 PM on Tuesday, a simple vehicular accident triggered a violent incident in a California city on the Mexican border. One of the people involved in the collision, upon being angrily confronted by the other driver, brandished a knife and began making threats. Police quickly responded to the scene, prompting the driver of the pickup truck to flee.
A woman was in the truck with him. Foreign plates and the direction of travel indicated they were headed for the San Ysidro border crossing. Police coordinated their actions toward apprehension of the driver.
Upon arriving at the port of entry, the driver swerved to strike a number of the street vendors who sell food and other items to pedestrians. Fourteen stalls, fifteen vehicles and four people were struck. Two of the four remain in a nearby hospital, with serious injuries.
One of the people waiting to cross, Alejandro Contreras, explained to a Mexican newspaper:
“We were here in line and out of the blue we started hearing screams [then] a pickup truck hit us from behind. It was a gringo with a young woman, the woman’s face was covered with blood.”
El Imparcial
The truck stopped after the repeated collisions, after which it was swarmed by people present at the scene. The driver had been pulled from the truck and beaten by some of the vendors when the police arrived and took him into custody. The female passenger was not arrested.
The Morning Call reports that the driver has an extensive arrest record in Utah on charges of robbery, theft, drugs and traffic violations.
The driver has been identified as Frank Eddie Stricker. He is confirmed as a U.S. citizen. The California city where the incidents took place is Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico.
