Posted on 01/01/2004 9:21:33 AM PST by Scenic Sounds
TIJUANA – Amid a rising number of tourist complaints about police misconduct, an Arizona man has claimed he was stopped by police officers Friday near the San Ysidro border crossing, placed in a police truck and forced at gunpoint to take money from an ATM.
Ron Terwilliger, 44, said he walked across the border to Tijuana the day after Christmas to buy jewelry on Avenida Revolucion. About 4 p.m., as he was lining up to cross back to San Diego, he said, a man in a police uniform motioned him aside. Two other officers soon arrived.
"I feel lucky to be alive," Terwilliger said in a telephone interview from his home in Arizona.
He reported the incident to San Diego police as soon as he returned to the U.S. side.
At least a dozen allegations by U.S. tourists who say they have been extorted or assaulted by Tijuana police have come to light in recent months.
Over the summer, the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana sent the city's internal affairs office complaints filed by eight tourists who said police officers forced them to hand over money, in one case $600.
In the past 15 months, three U.S. women have filed reports with California police agencies accusing Tijuana police officers of rape.
Tijuana law enforcement officials say they are trying to discipline corrupt officers. Gilberto Fimbres, Tijuana's assistant police chief, said nothing will change unless victims report the crimes. "They should have the civic valor . . . or we will never end corruption."
In November, four municipal police officers were arrested after one of the alleged U.S. rape victims crossed the border and identified them as her assailant. One officer was quickly charged with rape, two with extortion and abuse of authority, and the fourth with failing to report the crimes. Two are in prison and two are out on bail until their trials.
Other U.S. victims have seen the wheels of justice turn far more slowly. When Tijuana's head of internal affairs reviewed the complaints from the tourists who said they had been extorted, his office recommended that 16 police officers be dismissed. But David Solis, president of Tijuana's Citizens Council for Public Safety and a member of the Commission of Honor and Justice, said the cases were too weak to warrant outright dismissal.
Instead, the commission ruled in November that only 12 of them should be punished – with 30-day suspensions without pay.
As of this week, however, none of the officers has been notified of his suspension. Solis said he was told they were still on the job because the department is short-staffed during the holiday season and is waiting until early next year to suspend them.
Terwilliger, a locksmith, said that when he was stopped he was carrying $200 worth of jewelry he had bought as gifts and $10 to pay for his parking across the border.
After leading him for a half-block and handcuffing him, Terwilliger said, the first officer steered him around a corner to a covered white Chevy pickup with a siren on top and marked with the word "Police."
"He told me, 'Get in,' and I said, 'What have I done?' " Terwilliger recalled. "He put his hand on his gun."
The officer wore a brown uniform, the color worn by Tijuana's commercial police, who are paid directly by banks and businesses to protect their premises. They have no authority to patrol near the border.
A second officer arrived in a blue uniform, the color worn by Tijuana's regular patrol officers. Later, Terwilliger noticed a third officer watching from a distance.
Terwilliger said he was told "the judge wants $400. He's very angry at you." He said the officers took his jewelry. They pulled off his shoes, emptied his wallet and drove him to an ATM, forcing him to withdraw more than $200. At one point an officer cocked his gun.
Terwilliger said he was released after he said he couldn't get any more money out of the machine. After crossing the border, he reported the incident to San Diego police.
U.S. police can do little except tell victims to call the U.S. Consulate, said Sgt. Bob Lopez, head of the San Diego Police Department's Mexico liaison team.
"People think that because we're so physically close it's one, but we're not just talking two different cities. We're talking two different countries," Lopez said.
Liza Davis, a spokeswoman at the U.S. Consulate, said officials are aware of Terwilliger's case.
"We're really pleased that people come forward to us," she said, "and we do aggressively pursue the complaints with local authorities when we know about them."
Sandra Dibble: (619) 293-1716; sandra.dibble@uniontrib.com
"Badges? We don't need no steenking badges?!"
The rest of the family was never the same. You could't take me down there at gun point.
Good point.
No, we're talking two different worlds.
And theirs is moving north and invading ours.
Dog bites man.
Bear sh*ts in woods.
Pope revealed as Catholic.
If I were you, I wouldn't put up with it! Surely there are other countries out there that show more respect for their citizens. Have you looked?
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