Border Patrol Chopper Downed By Rock-Throwing Immigrants

POSTED: 6:40 am CDT August 26, 2005

YUMA, Ariz. -- It could make aviation history: a helicopter downed by rock-throwing illegal immigrants just north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

It was a close call for the Border Patrol pilot and an observer.

The A-Star helicopter was in California, several miles west of Yuma, Ariz., when a group of immigrants began throwing rocks at the aircraft. A Border Patrol spokesman said one baseball-sized rock gashed the rotor, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing. No one was injured.

After the incident on Tuesday, 17 people were arrested for illegally crossing the border, and two of them were being investigated for smuggling. Ten others escaped.