By Steve Neavling
Border Patrol agents came to the rescue in two separate incidents in Texas this week, the latest in a string of heroic actions.
On Wednesday morning, 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. The agents spotted smoke billowing out of a car, and “without regard for their own safety, extracted the woman shortly before the car was engulfed in flames,” U.S. Customs and Border Protection said in a news release.
The woman was not seriously injured.
On Wednesday afternoon, an off-duty Border Patrol agent from the Laredo Sector “prevented a tragedy from occurring in San Antonio, Texas,” CBP said.
The agent 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.”
After helping clear people from the scene, the agent identified himself and deescalated the situation before police arrived.
No one was injured.
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.
