Chaos Along I-10 as Arrest, Crashes and Fires Converge
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Above, firefighters work to contain a grass fire that started along Interstate 10 near Flatonia. Below, Schulenburg Police and Sheriff’s Deputies stopped a car for reckless driving and wound up arresting a woman on smuggling charges. -
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Firefighters from Flatonia and Schulenburg battled about a halfdozen grass fires that started along Interstate 10 on Sunday.
An arrest on Interstate 10 in Schulenburg on Sunday led to a pair of vehicle crashes as weekend traffic backed up on the busy highway.
Then several fires along the roadway added to the chaos that day.
Schulenburg Police Chief Troy Brenek said his officers received a call around 10:19 a.m. reporting a reckless driver on Interstate 10 between Flatonia and Schulenburg. The vehicle was heading east. Officer Juan Castilleja located the vehicle, a 2008 Chevy Suburban, about a half mile from Schulenburg. He stopped it just east of the Interstate 10 on-ramp in Schulenburg.
The Fayette County Sheriff’s Office also responded to the stop. Castilleja and a Sheriff’s deputy allegedly found about a half dozen illegal immigrants in the vehicle.
“During the course of the investigation, a vehicle moved over to give space to the traffic stop and almost hit another vehicle,” Castilleja said. “It overcorrected and flipped while we were doing the investigation into the smuggling. We put the investigation on hold and did everything we could to extract those people from the vehicle.”
Officers were able to extract the driver and passenger from the crashed vehicle, a Honda SUV. Schulenburg Volunteer Fire Department responded and rerouted traffic through Schulenburg via U.S. Hwy. 90.
Castilleja said the people in the Honda suffered minor injuries. Fayette County EMS arrived and treated them at the scene. They did not require hos-pitalization. During the traffic backup, another minor accident occured on the Interstate 10 overpass bridge in Schulenburg. No one was hurt and the two vehicles involved sustained minor damage.
Castilleja said he then resumed the smuggling investigation.
“We kept getting different stories from the driver,” Cas tilleja said. “She gave us consent to search the vehicle. There was no luggage and no food or drink. We kept searching and found about $3,500, which rounds-out to about $500 for each illegal immigrant in the vehicle.”
Castilleja arrested the driver, Sabrina Dehart, 36 of Sayer, Okla., for money laundering.
Brenek said police contacted Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) about the illegal immigrants, but the federal agency declined to take them. While it is illegal for immigrants to enter the country without a greencard or visa, local law enforcement agencies do not have any authority to enforce federal immigration laws.
“The only way we would be able to enforce an immigration detainer is if we have criminal charges to attach from the state level,” Brenek said.
Brenek said officers did not observe the immigrants violating any state laws.
“We had to let them go free,” Brenek said.
Castilleja transported the immigrants to Colorado County and released them.
That was far from the end of a busy Sunday for first responders in Southern Fayette County. Flatonia Fire and Rescue and Schulenburg VFD responded to about a half-dozen grass fires along Interstate throughout the day on Sunday.