Border Agent Injured in Plane Crash
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OCOTILLO — A U.S. Border Patrol agent was injured Thursday when a single-engine plane he was flying crashed and burned just west of here about 7:10 a.m., an Imperial County Sheriff’s Department official said.
Alan Szpila, 40, was taken by Life Flight to UC San Diego Medical Center with a broken leg and second- and third-degree burns on his buttocks, dispatcher Robert McGee said.
Border Patrol trainee Jeffrey Everly saw the plane go down and pulled Szpila to safety minutes before the plane exploded, McGee said.
The plane was on patrol when it struck a 500-kilovolt power line that goes from San Diego to Mexico. There were no reported power outages, McGee said.
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