San Diego correspondent Elliot Spagat broke news for AP by reporting that an SUV with 25 people crammed inside drove through an opening in the U.S.-Mexico border fence shortly before it collided with a tractor-trailer, killing 13.
Law enforcement officers work at the scene of a deadly crash in Holtville, Calif., March 2, 2021. Authorities say the tractor trailer crashed into the SUV carrying 25 people, killing 13 people.
AP Photo / Gregory Bull
A multiformat AP team was among the first on scene after the crash in California’s remote imperial Valley. Over the next two days, AP provided exclusive photos and video and broke the news of the hole cut in the wall. Spagat had on-the-record information from the Border Patrol sector chief, allowing AP to report exclusively that surveillance video showed the SUV and another vehicle driving through the opening in the wall, and that the incident was believed part of an immigrant smuggling operation.