1983 — Aug 10, Car and Tractor-Trailer Head-on Collision, Highway 86 ~Coachella, CA-11

—  12  Aiken Standard, SC. “Highway Crash Kills 12.” 8-10-1983, p. B8.[1]

—  11  National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.  FARS 1975-2010 Fatality Analysis.

—  11  Orange County Register, Santa Ana, CA. “Crash dead were aliens, INS says.” 8-24-1983.

—  11  Salina Journal, KS. “Collision with hay truck kills 11 in car.” 8-11-1983, p. 16.

—  10  Ottawa Herald, KS. “Crash Kills Ten in One Car.” 8-10-1983, p. 10.

 

Narrative Information

 

Aug 10, Associated Press in Aiken Standard, SC: “Coachella, Calif. (AP) — A car collided head-on today with a hay truck on a stretch of narrow highway called “Blood Alley” because of its history of accidents, killing all 12 men in the car, authorities said.  “All 12 victims were in the sedan that collided with a hay truck going the opposite direction (south) on Highway 86,” said California Highway Patrol Capt. Bob Scott. The driver of the hay truck was uninjured, he said.

 

“At least 58 people have died on the highway since 1980, authorities said.  The victims were all men and appeared to be Hispanic, possibly farm-workers, Scott said.” (Aiken Standard, SC. “Highway Crash Kills 12.” 8-10-1983, p. B8.)

 

Aug 10, AP/Ottawa Herald, KS: “Coachella, Calif. (AP) — A car being chased by the Border Patrol early today ran a stop sign at a desert intersection on a narrow highway and was struck by a tractor-trailer truck loaded with hay, killing 10 people in the car, police said.  An llth person in the car was critically injured, but neither the driver of the hay truck nor the Border Patrol agents were hurt.

 

“The wreck occurred about 2 a.m. on a stretch of the highway called “Blood Alley” because of its history of carnage, authorities said.  The collision, about three miles south of Coachella and 120 miles east of Los Angeles, brought to at least 56 the number of people who have died on Highway 86 in this Riverside County area since 1980, officials said.

 

“California Highway Patrol officer Tom Granger said the victims were jammed in the 1974 Ford Galaxy and most were hidden from sight during the 30-mile chase, which began near Salton City.  “My understanding is that the Border Patrol observed only two people during the entire pursuit,” he said. “It was only after they got to the scene that they found them — all packed into that car.”

 

“Some of the victims appeared to be 13 to 15 years old, Granger said.  “There were two or three in that range,” he said.

 

“The victims appeared to be Hispanic, possibly farm-workers, said highway patrol spokesman Jim Mousely.  Mousely initially said eleven were confirmed dead at the scene and a 12^th died in route to a hospital, but Joette Wilson, an office assistant at the highway patrol office in Indio, later said 10 people died and an 11th was critically injured.

 

“The impact of the crash crumpled the car, which came to rest alongside a plowed field in an agricultural area, and snapped out a windshield, which was wound into a roll.

 

“In the front of the car was an almost empty half-pint bottle of brandy.  On the back seat were a Spanish-language comic book and two rubber-soled sandals.

 

“Granger said two Border Patrol agents sitting in their car alongside Highway 86 near Salton City saw the car drive by and when they pulled out to try to get the its license number, the car accelerated to about 100 mph.  Granger said he didn’t know why the agents became suspicious or where the occupants lived.”  (Ottawa Herald, KS. “Crash Kills Ten in One Car.” 8-10-1983, 10.)

 

Aug 11, United Press International: “Coachella, Calif. (UPI) – A car believed carrying illegal aliens sped through a stop sign at 100 mph while racing away from Border Patrol agents Wednesday and crashed into a hay truck, killing all 11 people packed inside the sedan.

 

“Agents were parked at a check-point on Highway 86 — a main route through the Imperial Valley connecting the U.S.-Mexico border with Los Angeles — when they spotted the low-riding car and grew suspicious, Chief Agent Bill King said.  When agents in a marked van and sedan followed the car, the victims raced away at an estimated 100 mph and ran a stop sign on a country road intersecting the highway about eight miles south of Coachella in Riverside County.

 

“Ten of those stuffed into the car were declared dead at the scene about 4 a.m. CDT, the California Highway Patrol reported. The eleventh was rushed to Desert Hospital in Palm Springs, where he died Wednesday afternoon.  “The car was split open and bodies were all over the place,” one officer said.

 

“CHP records reveal the accident was the worst crash involving a passenger car in California since 1972, and perhaps the worst in the state’s history, a spokesman said in Sacramento.

 

“A coroner’s investigator said three of the victims — all men and most in their teens or early 20s — had birth certificates from the state of Michoacán, Mexico, while a fourth carried papers with up to four different names.  Investigators asked Mexican authorities to help identify the victims. “It fits the classic alien smuggling profile,” King said. “I would be astounded if our investigation

doesn’t show it was an alien smuggling scheme.”

 

“The truck driver, whose vehicle was carrying baled hay, ran his 18-wheeler off the roadway but was not injured.

 

“CHP officials said Highway 86, an 80-mile, two-lane desert road that connects two interstate highways, was dubbed “Death Alley” and “Killer Highway” by residents because of an unusually high number of fatalities on the road in recent years.”  (Salina Journal, KS. “Collision with hay truck kills 11 in car.” 8-11-1983, p. 16.)

 

Aug 24: “Los Angeles — All 11 people killed two weeks ago when a car crashed while fleeing Border Patrol agents on a desert highway called “Blood Alley” were illegal aliens, an Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman said Tuesday.  The accident occurred Aug. 10 about 2 a.m. on a stretch of two-lane Highway 86 about three miles south of Coachella and 120 miles east of Los Angeles.  The car, jammed with 11 people, collided with tractor-trailer truck at the intersection of Highway 86 and Avenue 62, California Highway Patrol officers said.”  (Orange County Register, Santa Ana, CA. “Crash dead were aliens, INS says.” 8-24-1983, A3.)

 

Sources

 

Aiken Standard, SC. “3 Missing After Air Crash.” 12-1-1978, 3B. Accessed at:  http://newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=106641272

 

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Partial Data Dump of Crashes Involving 10 or More Fatalities, by Year, Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) 1975-2009 Final and 2010 ARF. Washington, DC: NHTSA, pdf file provided to Wayne Blanchard, 1-26-2012.

 

Orange County Register, Santa Ana, CA. “Crash dead were aliens, INS says.” 8-24-1983, A3. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=169192477

 

Ottawa Herald, KS. “Crash Kills Ten in One Car.” 8-10-1983, p. 10. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=136072906

 

Salina Journal, KS. “Collision with hay truck kills 11 in car.” 8-11-1983, p. 16. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=135182919

 

 

[1] Based on an inaccurate first report.