The Pinal County Sheriff’s Department on Saturday released video of a high-speed chase this week in which several bales of marijuana were tossed out of an SUV.
The video is of one of two chases involving Pinal County, Border Patrol and Gila River police Wednesday that deputies say led to two arrests and the discovery of a stash house in Mesa, according to a news release from the department.
The first pursuit began about 5:30 Wednesday morning when deputies tried to stop a white Chevrolet pickup truck on Interstate 8 near Stanfield for traffic violations.
The driver crashed into an irrigation canal and deputies arrested 9 of 10 people who ran from the damaged truck, the release said.
That case gave deputies information that prompted a second chase about 11:45 that morning on the interstate near Casa Grande. In that incident the driver of a white Chevrolet Trailblazer tried to escape at speeds over 100 miles per hour. Video from a squad car shows bales of marijuana being thrown onto the interstate during the chase.
Spike strips flattened the SUV’s front tires. Two men who ran from the vehicle, Mario Perez-Paz, 43, of Mexico and Juan Aguilar-Zavala, 21, were arrested on drug-related charges after they ran from the disabled vehicle.
People in up to five cars not involved in the chase snatched the bales of pot from the roadway before deputies could get to the drugs, the release said.
About 374 pounds of pot were recovered.
Finally, information from Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the chases led authorities to a stash house in Mesa where they say they found about 20 immigrants from Mexico and Guatemala, the release said.
