During the evening of December 25, 1940, Patrol Inspector George E. Pringle was working alone in the vicinity of Parker, Arizona, his official duty station. He was engaged in conversation with a Special Agent for the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Ralph F. Stringfellow, whom he knew both officially and personally, when he indicated he was going to follow a car that had just passed. The vehicle was known to both men as belonging to a group of aliens suspected of illegal activities in connection with the Parker Dam.

Inspector Pringle was next observed driving south on Parker Road about two miles south of the Parker Dam Checking Station. Two witnesses indicated the government vehicle being driven by Inspector Pringle veered toward the center of the road about the time the vehicle in which they were riding passed going in the opposite direction. The government vehicle then swerved to the right off the roadway and overturned two or three times before coming to rest about 200 yards from where the vehicle had left the roadway. Subsequent investigation revealed that the accident occurred as a result of a blow out of the right front tire which was caused by the tire passing over a broken bottle in the roadway.

Inspector Pringle sustained multiple injuries including contusions of the upper frontal region of the skull, and a fracture at the base of the skull. He died of injuries received in the accident on December 28, 1940.