Lawsuit Over Fatality Poses Test of INS Pursuit Policy : Trial: Widower wants U.S. judge in Santa Ana to rule that Border Patrol is to blame for his wife’s 1990 death.

SANTA ANA — When a truck being chased by Border Patrol agents lost control and killed six people in Temecula two months ago, Paul Stuart felt a sad and sickening deja vu.

“I called some of the victims’ families up to express my sympathy,” said Stuart, 39. His pregnant wife was killed two years earlier in the same city when a driver being chased by the Border Patrol crashed into their car.

“I wanted to let them know that there was at least one other person who knew how they were feeling,” he said. “It’s a sad thing.”

Stuart, who blames his wife’s death on the Border Patrol, went to federal court here Tuesday in an attempt to have a judge rule that the agents were negligent for continuing an unsafe chase.

The trial follows intense scrutiny of the pursuit policies of the Border Patrol--the enforcement arm of the Immigration and Naturalization Service--because of the fatal chase in Temecula on June 2.

In that incident, Border Patrol agents chased a truck carrying 12 illegal immigrants into a residential area outside a high school. The truck careened into a car and pedestrians.

The outcome of Stuart’s suit will suggest how potential civil suits arising from the Temecula deaths might be resolved.

Further, a victory in his suit might cause immigration officers to be more careful during high-speed chases or even alter their policy, Stuart’s attorney, Raymond P. Johnson, said.

“The Border Patrol is virtually undefeated in court,” Johnson said. “If we win, it would be precedent-setting. It might make them change the way they conduct pursuits.”

Steve Kean, a Border Patrol spokesman familiar with the Stuart lawsuit, minimized the broader implications of the suit, saying that it was an individual case about alleged negligence. But, he conceded, “we are following it.”

Assistant U.S. Atty. James R. Sullivan, who is defending the Border Patrol in the lawsuit, declined comment.

Both sides in the case agree that the outcome of the Feb. 6, 1990, chase at the junction of Pala Road and California 79 in southern Temecula was tragic, but they dispute who was at fault.

What is not contested about that night is that Border Patrol agents Carlos J. Ramos and John D. King spotted a blue Hyundai sedan on a road commonly used as a route by smugglers to avoid a border checkpoint station on Interstate 15.

When the two officers, who were suspicious about the car, tried to pull it over, the driver accelerated.

During the two-minute chase that ensued along a dark, winding two-lane road, speeds reached 60 m.p.h. Several times, the driver of the Hyundai crossed over to lanes for oncoming traffic and ignored stop signs. Throughout the chase, the agents said, they were three to five car lengths behind.

The chase ended when the Hyundai broadsided the passenger side of the Stuarts’ Mercedes-Benz, instantly killing Babette Stuart, 32, who was five months’ pregnant. Paul Stuart and his 20-month-old son escaped with minor injuries.

The occupants of the Hyundai were in a stolen car but were not illegal immigrants.

When the trial opened Tuesday, Johnson alleged that not only did the Hyundai hit the Stuarts’ car but the patrol car did as well. He called an expert crash analyst to the stand, who testified that two dents in the Mercedes were from the patrol car’s front bumper.

If the patrol car did crash into the Mercedes, that would prove that the agents were following too closely and were negligent, Johnson contended.

King, who was called to testify Tuesday, denied that the patrol car struck the Mercedes or that he and Ramos were negligent.

Geoffrey P. Alpert, a professor of criminal justice who has researched and written a book about police chases as a form of deadly force, disagreed. Testifying on behalf of the plaintiff, Alpert said the situation that night “resembled a drag race.” He added that it “wasn’t worth the risk of apprehending somebody who might be an illegal alien.”

Stuart, who was in court with his now 4-year-old son, also took the stand briefly.

He recalled that he and his family were driving to their Temecula home after a visit with relatives. When he reached the intersection of Pala Road and California 79, he said, he saw a bright light just before being hit.

“My first thought was: ‘What was that?’ ” Stuart testified. “Then there was a violent impact and we spun out of control.”

He said he did not see any flashing lights or hear any sirens. Nor could he tell what or who hit his vehicle, he said.

“I recall that the car came to a stop and I was confused,” he said. “Then, almost immediately, there were INS agents banging on my door and shouting at me to get out of the car.”

The case is expected to conclude today in U.S. District Court. Judge Lawrence T. Lydick is hearing the non-jury trial.