Footage captured from an officer's body camera shows the dramatic rescue of 39 undocumented immigrants that were squashed into the back of an 18-wheeler truck as it drove through Texas.
When Deputy Aaron Ramirez and Sgt. Jerry Reyna of the Frio County Sheriff's Department opened the truck, they found people drenched in sweat, gasping for air as they laid on top of each other.
'They were sweating, dehydrated, it was horrible,' Ramirez told Fox 31 Denver
'They thought they were going to die.'
Police handed out water bottles and sat down the 28 adult males, seven adult females and four minors that were found inside the truck and had come from Guatemala, Mexico and El Salvador.
They originally believed only 10 people had been inside the truck.
It was a pair of truck drivers, who were father and son, that first spotted a driver telling people to exit the vehicle at a convenience store and then decided they should call 911.
Drew Christopher Potter, 33, has claimed that he was paid to drive the truck to San Antonio and had no idea there were people inside.
He was charged this week by a federal grand jury with one count of conspiracy to commit smuggling for financial gain and three counts of transportation of undocumented immigrants.
Potter faces up to 10 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine.
Reyna said he believes the group was transported from Laredo, Texas and had been in the truck for four to five hours when they were discovered on September 18, according to ABC News.
The immigrants have since been treated at local hospitals and are in the custody of US Border Patrol in Laredo, where Reyna said they will be held as witnesses for Potter's trial.
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