Driver sideswipes SAPD vehicle on I-35, may have been involved in human smuggling, police say

SAN ANTONIO – A driver who sideswiped a San Antonio Police Department SUV Wednesday morning may have been smuggling a truck full of migrants, investigators say.

The collision happened just before 8 a.m. in the northbound lanes of Interstate 35 near Fischer Road.

An off-duty SAPD SWAT officer was traveling to work in a city-owned SUV when the driver of a pickup truck sideswiped him. The officer said he thought the driver was going to stop, but then he took off instead.

When the officer activated his lights and sirens, the driver pulled over. Police said that’s when six to 10 people jumped out of the cab and from the bed of the truck and ran into a wooded area. Officers searched the woods but were not able to locate anyone.

The driver was taken into custody and is facing a charge for the hit-and-run crash. Police said he’s also suspected of human smuggling, but at this point, police aren’t able to prove that until they locate the people who fled the truck.

The officer and the pickup-truck driver were not injured in the collision.

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