A federal court in Texas sentenced Rassian Nateray Comer, a U.S. citizen from Louisiana, to life in prison for causing an accident that killed four people while illegally transporting 11 immigrants in 2023, as announced by the Department of Homeland Security this Thursday.
The incident occurred on March 13, 2023, in Ozona, Texas, when an agent from the state Department of Public Safety attempted to stop the vehicle being driven by Comer, which was carrying 11 undocumented Mexican immigrants.
Instead of obeying the police signal, Comer fled at speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour, even driving the wrong way on Interstate 10.
Instead of trying to stop the escape, the driver broadcast the chase live on Facebook Live, showing the speedometer reading 105 mph and the police cars behind him.
The chase ended tragically when Comer ran a red light and collided with a truck carrying María Tambunga and her seven-year-old granddaughter, Emilia Brooke Tambunga.
Both died on impact, along with two of the immigrants who were in Comer’s vehicle. The remaining nine sustained serious injuries.
Detained at the scene, Comer admitted to authorities that this was his fourth human smuggling trip. A stolen pistol was also found in his vehicle.
The judicial process extended over more than three years. In June 2026, Comer pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to transport illegal aliens resulting in death, 11 counts of transporting illegal aliens resulting in death, and one count of possession of a stolen firearm.
On September 25, Judge James Wesley Hendrix of the Northern District of Texas imposed a life sentence, in addition to five years of supervised release and a special assessment of $1,300.
The investigation was conducted by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), with support from various state and local agencies in Texas.
The Secretary of National Security, Markwayne Mullin, described Comer as a "monster" and stated that the victims "should be alive today, and they would be if it weren't for this criminal who jeopardized so many lives just for money."
"HSI will continue working with its partners to pursue the smuggling networks that profit from human lives and leave tragedies in their wake," warned Judy Pardo, acting deputy special agent of HSI Dallas.
The federal prosecutor Ryan Raybould emphasized the severity of the case: "These were innocent lives, taken in an instant by a human trafficker whose actions displayed a complete disregard for everyone sharing the road. No sentence can restore what was lost, but it does send a clear message: when criminals gamble with human lives, we will respond with the full weight of the federal government."
The case adds to a series of tragedies related to human trafficking in Texas. In June 2026, 39 migrants, including Cubans, were trapped in a burning trailer during a police pursuit in the southern part of the state.
The most serious incident remains that of San Antonio in June 2022, when 53 migrants died from asphyxiation in an abandoned trailer under the sun, considered the worst case of human trafficking in recent Texas history.
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