Mother Sues Border Patrol

[MJS]

http://news.yahoo.com/mother-19-old-killed-border-patrol-sues-202142980.html

PHOENIX (AP) — The mother of a 19-year-old man fatally shot in the back by a U.S. Border Patrol agent has sued the federal government and the agent himself, claiming it was "an appalling use of excessive force" because her son was unarmed, had his back to the agent and posed no threat.
Guadalupe Guerrero said Monday that the Border Patrol had no right to take her son's life, even if he had marijuana in his truck as they say — though she disputed the allegation.
A Border Patrol agent identified by police as Lucas Tidwell shot Carlos La Madrid three times — twice in the back and once in the thigh — as he climbed a ladder on the U.S.-Mexico border fence in southeastern Arizona on March 21, 2011.
The Arizona man, who did not have a weapon, fell to the ground and died about five hours later at a hospital.
"Why did they kill him? Who are they to play God?" Guerrero said in Spanish on what would have been her son's 21st birthday.

Thoughts?

 

[CanuckMA]

Not enough information for a real assessment, but as reported, excessive force.

 

[Bob Hubbard]

It's obviously the agents fault, because there is no reason to place any blame on the guy.

La Madrid, who was driving, set off a chase by police and the Border Patrol that ended with a collision between Tidwell's and La Madrid's vehicle.

La Madrid and Chino Lino ran from the vehicle, and La Madrid began climbing a ladder propped on the border wall. Simultaneously, a man who was sitting on the border wall began throwing rocks at Tidwell's vehicle, hitting the windshield twice, the report said.

That's when Tidwell shot La Madrid, whose back was turned and who hadn't thrown any rocks, according to the report.
At least one bullet was fired from inside the vehicle, police said.


Chino Lino later told investigators that he crossed the border earlier with a friend who was packing marijuana and helped load it into the car that La Madrid was driving. He said he didn't know La Madrid.

Police reported finding a burlap sack of marijuana weighing 48 pounds in La Madrid's car.

None of this is important. Just a poor helpless innocent kid, shot down like a dog by the pigs.


That's sarcasm BTW.

Kids dead. Sucks. If he hadn't ran from the cops, caused a crash, ran again, tried to flee the country to avoid capture, because he was hauling drugs, maybe he'd be home safe tonight. Was it excessive force? Maybe. Maybe the cop was just trying to disable the idiot, you know, like in the movies.

More sarcasm there.

I have to point out the sarcasm, because there's always some fool who thinks I'm sitting here celebrating **** like this. Just to be clear on that point. No. I'm. Not.

But the blame for being in the wrong place, doing the wrong thing, is the dead guys.

 

[CanuckMA]

^^ Justified.

All we need is more of the story.

 

[ballen0351]

Force science institute has done numerous studies on how and why officers shoot people in the back. It basically takes more time for your eye to see a threat send it to the brain then the brain has to register the threat decide to shoot and send an impulse to your hand to shoot it takes more time for that process then it does for someone to make an aggressive act and then turn and run. The officer is playing reaction to the suspects actions.

 

[billc]

Well, he may have been shooting at the guy throwing rocks and hit the other guy due to the effects of adrenaline on his control of the pistol. Why shoot at the guy with the rocks, maybe in his adrenaline state he thought he was being shot at instead of seeing the rocks. With the tunnel vision that comes from situations like that he may not have actually seen rocks, just the strikes against his windshield. A lot goes on in these shootings that non-participants will never experience and will not be able to judge fairly.

 

[Grenadier]

Had the kid not run and surrendered peacefully, they would probably have simply dumped him back over the border.

Given how this administration is quite lax, he would probably have been given a bonus as well.

 

[geezer]

Had the kid not run and surrendered peacefully, they would probably have simply dumped him back over the border.

Given how this administration is quite lax, he would probably have been given a bonus as well.

Reading the quote from the OP: "The Arizona man, who did not have a weapon, fell to the ground and died about five hours later at a hospital." it sounds like the guy was an Arizona resident and not an illegal alien. Considering that he was involved in a vehicular chase fleeing law enforcement and was smuggling a large quantity of marijuana, they would not have "dumped him back over the border". I'm sure some of you LEOs can weigh in on this, but that sounds like felony stuff to me, and some serious time behind bars if convicted. Under those circumstances, he probably felt it worth chancing a run up the ladder and over the fence to get away. Heck, he may have done it before and gotten away with it.

 

[punisher73]

So, the suspect flees and there is only one officer from the sound of it. The man is climbing up a ladder to an international border when suddenly his windshield is suddenly shattered by another assailant on top of the wall. Does the officer know that the guy was only throwing rocks? In the heat of the moment when there is a loud noise and the windshielf is broken, is it possibly reasonable that he may have assumed he was being shot at?

I went to some training that focused on the drug cartels in the US/Mexico and the border. In LE, we have recieved information from the drug cartels and gangs that they are under orders to lose no more drug loads. Their orders are to kill any US Law Enforcement Officer who stops them.

So, going back to this. You are given a tip that this guy is running drugs and you attempt to make a stop. Suspect then flees and attempts to cross over the US border into Mexico. Out of nowhere your windshield suddenly with a loud bang, are you being shot at? What were you told in training again? Could a reasonable person think that their life was in jeopardy from possible drug cartel members?

 

[Grenadier]

Reading the quote from the OP: "The Arizona man, who did not have a weapon, fell to the ground and died about five hours later at a hospital." it sounds like the guy was an Arizona resident and not an illegal alien.

Mea culpa on that! I do thank you for pointing that out, since I must have missed that fact.

Nevertheless, I still believe that had he not run, he wouldn't have been facing too long of a sentence, since he's only 19, and could have gotten significant time off for good behavior.