By Steve Neavling
Fast-acting Border Patrol agents – some of them off-duty – sprung into action this year when they saw people in danger.
In November, agents form the McAllen Border Patrol Station in Texas rescued a man from a burning car just before it burst into flames. The agents heard a vehicle crash and found the driver bleeding and slumped over the wheel. They wasted no time pulling the driver to safety.
In September, agents from the Brownsville Station rescued a woman from a smoking car before it erupted in flames on U.S. Highway 77 in Brownsville, Texas.
On the same day, an off-duty Border Patrol agent from the Laredo Sector witnessed an armed man destroying property in a parking lot and immediately called police. The gunman then began opening fire aimlessly, “causing chaos with the surrounding civilians,” CBP said in a news release. After helping clear people from the scene, the agent identified himself and deescalated the situation before police arrived.
On Aug. 29, CBP officers were credited with saving the life of a young woman who appeared to be overdosing on opioids. Two men carried the semi-conscious woman to the pedestrian lanes at the Douglas Port of Entry in Arizona on Sunday evening. While a supervisory CBP officer notified the Douglas Fire Department, a CBP-trained medic administered two doses of Narcan.
On July 31, an off-duty Border Patrol agent saved a man from a burning car in metro Detroit.
Also in July, an off-duty agent from the El Centro Sector helped thwart a carjacking in what the agency called a “heroic act.”
In the same month, an off-duty Border Patrol agent in San Diego detained a man who was slashing a knife through the air while approaching bystanders.
These were just some of the heroic actions of Border Patrol agents this year.
