US Citizen Runs Over Several People Near Mexico Border, Allegedly Fleeing Attack

A man from the United States was arrested Monday after he crashed his truck into several vehicles and ran over five bystanders near the Mexican border in Tijuana.

In a Facebook post, the Tijuana Secretariat of Public Security said the unidentified man allegedly threatened a Mexican citizen with a knife. When police officers arrived at the scene, the suspect fled in a pickup truck toward the border crossing and rammed into 17 vehicles, knocked over dozens of vendor carts and ran over five people in the process.

The suspect finally stopped the vehicle a short distance from the U.S. border. The bystanders then pulled the suspect and a female co-passenger from the vehicle and beat them up. Police arrived at the scene and stopped the people before taking the man into custody. The co-passenger was also not identified by officials.

Speaking to 10 News, the co-passenger, who was being treated at a local hospital, said she and the driver were fleeing an attack when the incident took place. They were visiting Tijuana from Utah. Their vehicle was allegedly attacked by some people when they stopped to ask for directions.

“If we would have stopped the car we would have been dead. We had to run from these people they were attacking us,” she said, adding that they then tried to reroute. They then asked a man for help who told them “the only way they'd be able to help is if he drove.” They allowed the man to drive but he purposely took a wrong turn after which the suspect told him to pull over.

“In two seconds the guy pulls over the car and there’s a cop,” she said, adding that they heard gunfire before the suspect got away. They then stopped at a lane near the border where they were attacked. She said the driver then rammed their truck through the crowd in order to escape. A while later, the truck stopped and they were beaten up by bystanders. She said she was tortured and taken to a local hospital after the crash.

“They tortured, they laughed at me they had everyone taking pictures of me they seriously did all of this with no medicine I mean I felt everything,” she said, adding that she was shifted to another hospital the following day.

Meanwhile, the suspect was charged with attempted homicide and remained in the custody of Mexican authorities. The condition of the people struck by the vehicle remained unknown.