Staff Reports
SAN DIEGO — A late-night incident near the U.S.-Mexico border in San Diego has left one man dead and a woman injured after they fell from a border fence, authorities said.
The incident occurred around 10:56 p.m. on March 31, about five miles west of the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Two Border Patrol agents from the Imperial Beach Station were responding to a sensor alert when they spotted two individuals perched atop the secondary border fence. The agents drove east for about a minute to reach a gate in the wall, arriving around 10:58 p.m.
As they waited for the gate to open, the agents saw two other individuals fleeing south toward Mexico, leaving the man and woman stranded on the fence. The agents, positioned roughly 50 to 60 yards away, noticed a buckled ladder nearby. One agent called out to the fleeing pair to fix the ladder, but they continued running and did not respond.
Moments later, around 11 p.m., the woman fell from the fence, prompting the agents to call for emergency medical services. Although the agents did not witness the man fall, they soon found him on the ground, bleeding heavily near the base of the fence’s north side. Both individuals were injured in the fall.
The agents rushed to assist. They found the man moving and making sounds, but after reviewing body-worn camera footage, they determined that moving him could worsen his severe injuries. They monitored his condition closely while also attending to the woman, who was able to speak. The agents urged her to stay still and keep her eyes open until help arrived.
By 11:05 p.m., one agent checked the man for a pulse but found none, noting no visible signs of breathing. Emergency medical personnel from the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department arrived around 11:20 p.m. and assessed both individuals. The man was unresponsive, with no pulse, no breathing, and visible blunt force trauma to the head, along with uncontrolled bleeding. EMS began CPR at 11:22 p.m., but blood was soon observed coming from the man’s ears. At 11:34 p.m., a physician, consulting remotely with EMS, pronounced the man deceased.
The woman, who sustained injuries but was able to communicate, survived the incident and received medical attention.
San Diego County Medical Examiner’s Office personnel arrived around 1:01 a.m. on April 1 and took custody of the man’s remains by 1:20 a.m. An autopsy later that day determined the cause of death to be multiple blunt force injuries from an accidental fall.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility is reviewing the incident and has notified the Department of Homeland Security’s Office of Inspector General.
Authorities have not released the identities of the individuals involved. The incident underscores the dangers faced by those attempting to cross the border barrier, which has been a focal point of immigration enforcement efforts in the region.
