A hearing will be held tomorrow in Imperial County to determine the age of the suspected driver in a smuggling-related crash that killed six people and orphaned a 12-year-old girl.

Alejandro Toribio Gama is suspected of driving an SUV that was packed with as many as 22 people when it ran off a road into a canal Friday night in Westmorland, near Brawley.

Several people fled afterward, according to a complaint filed this week in U.S. District Court. Toribio, a Mexican citizen, was arrested Sunday in a hotel in Brawley. He has since been charged with illegal transportation of aliens, a felony, to which he has pleaded not guilty.

According to the complaint, police pursued the SUV, but officers ended the chase before the crash occurred.

Among those traveling in the SUV were a family of four from the state of Mexico, in the central part of the country. The 40-year-old father, 33-year-old mother and their 10-year-old son died; their 12-year-old daughter survived.

Debra Hartman, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office, said it is possible Toribio is a minor. If so, prosecutors must then determine if he will be prosecuted as an adult.

–L.B.