Authorities Monday publicly identified a U.S. Border Patrol agent who died last week in a car crash in the far southern reaches of the San Diego area.
Shortly before 6 a.m. Friday, a fellow member of the federal agency found 40-year-old Daniel Salazar of Santee dead next to his damaged vehicle on an embankment alongside a rural road south of state Route 94 in Potrero, just north of the international line, according to the county Medical Examiner's Office.
“This Border Patrol agent died while performing his duty, protecting our great nation and keeping our communities safe," San Diego Sector Chief Patrol Agent Aaron Heitke said in a statement released last week. "Our prayers go out to his family during this difficult time."
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Cal Fire said the fatality was reported sometime around 5:30 a.m. in the unincorporated area of Campo, just a few miles from the U.S.-Mexico border. The agent was unresponsive when first responders arrived at the scene, USBP said.
Aerial footage from SkyRanger 7 showed a heavily damaged border patrol vehicle deep down an embankment. Several U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents were seen down the embankment responding to the scene, while about a dozen first-responder vehicles surrounded the area on a dirt road.
CBP said in a statement that the agent was the sole occupant of the vehicle and was on duty at the time of the crash. Authorities did not identify the agent who died and details on what led up to the crash were not immediately clear.
Following the death, a procession was held for the agent while authorities transported the individual's body to the San Diego County Medical Examiner's Office.
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The case is under investigation by California Highway Patrol and the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility.
