Man hurt after jumping from moving truck
By: Mitch Carr
Updated: June 23, 2009
A man is in critical but stable condition today after jumping from the back of a moving pickup truck.
It happened at the corner of 106th street and Joliet avenue shortly after 8 AM. A US Border Patrol SUV was following a pickup truck when the two men riding in the bed stood up and jumped out.
One man ran off, but the other fell and hit his head on the curb. Police say the second man was 30-year-old Eliseo Gonzalez.
Bill Brooks is the Public Affairs Officer for the Border Patrol. He says what happened today was just unlucky.
"It was an unfortunate accident. We had an agent on a routine patrol, and for whatever reason, these two guys decided to get out of the back of that pickup when they saw him, and it became an unfortunate accident," said Brooks.
EMS crews rushed Gonzalez to University Medical Center. He is in critical but stable condition.
What is not stable is his immigration status. Lubbock Police Department Captain Greg Stevens said Gonzalez may be an illegal immigrant.
"There's already some question as to the nationality of the individual since there was a US border patrol vehicle that had at least observed the vehicle and was observing the vehicle. We'll work on that, to determine whether or not the passenger was a US citizen, or not. And the whether the individual was an illegal alien or not," said Stevens.
Brooks said that if and when Gonzalez returns to health, the Border Patrol will investigate his immigration status.
