Posted on 04/16/2009 12:43:26 PM PDT by the_Watchman
I told them I was a US citizen. I told them I was on a business trip. I told them I had no drugs or humans in the car. That wasn't enough. They wanted to search the car, and I invoked my 4th am...
(Excerpt) Read more at youtube.com ...
If he was a drug dealer the Border Agent would probably be in solitary confinement by now.
If this story is true (I certainly don’t know that it is), it will be interesting if anything happens to the BP agents, and if so, which side the FR crowd will side with.
I can’t imagine them doing that to a person with Hispanic features.
This guy needs to learn how to pick his battles. Imagine the cry that FReepers would let out if the gov’t decided they weren’t going to search or inspect anyone at the border.
I am curious, too.
There is a clear difference between supporting law enforcement and its functions in a civilized society versus rationalizing even the worst abuses of power by officers of the law.
The first thing he says in his video was that he refused to answer their questions. I wonder which statement is correct.
I heard the description of this episode at the Tea Party in Gilbert AZ yesterday.....I am amazed.
Do you suppose they Border Patrol read the DHS report and were concerned that he might be a right wing extremist?
I’ve lived within 18 miles of the border for most of my life, BP agents rarely get in trouble. We have always called them the Gestapo. I don’t think you have any rights where they are concerned.
I always rate them as to what I think their grade was in A$$HOLE school because I’m pretty sure that is one of their requirements in training.
Another person who, for some reason, keeps thinking that the Constitution and the Bill of Rights are still valid.
I take a pretty dim view of beating someone to a pulp just because they thought citizens still had rights in this nation.
I’m sure some court or another has made the Fourth Amendment rights in cases like this, all but null and void. That still doesn’t mean law enforcement should be able to do more damage than was necessary to this person’s vehicle, or inflict pain and physical abuse on this person.
One window should have been broken to gain access. This person should have been removed from the vehicle. If he fought, then he should expect to have some form of injury while being brought under control. There wasn’t any reason whatsoever to drag his head along the windowsill with broken glass. There was no reason to stomp his head into the ground.
Look, law enforcement may not like the fact that citizens mention their rights, but when it gets to the level of teaching the guy a lesson, it’s gone out of control.
These officers should be prosecuted. And the observing highway patrol officer should have refused to detain the person based on the level of damage to the car and the suspect.
There was no probably cause. These guys just decided to F with the pastor.
There are ways to conduct incidents like this, and there are ways not to conduct them. This was over the top.
At those checkpoints the first question is "Are you a U.S. Citizen?" That is the only question I've ever been asked, and I've never been sent to secondary. Anybody here been sent to secondary at one of these checkpoints? I've been secondaried several times at the border.
I haven’t seen the video, and if your description is accurate, it sounds like police overkill.
That said, someone who decides to play martyr at the border is an idiot. Do you think people should be allowed to not cooperate with border security? I don’t.
This guy can have all the 4th amendment rights he wants when he is in the country. At the border he’s just being an ass with no leg to stand on.
Thanks for the clarification. It doesn’t seem to me that being asked for proof of identity while operating a motor vehicle is an outrageous request.
If I lived in a border area and loved my country, I’d think I’d welcome seeing such enforcement.
He never crossed the border. He was IN the US the whole time.
That is the point. He wasn't crossing the border. He was driving inside the state of Arizona. This was an illegal checkpoint with illegal actions on the part of the border patrol.
Are we certain that he is a Reverend? If he had nothing to hide why did he challenge the BP agents with the 4th Amendment. If you are a border checkpoint, car searches are a reasonable request.
Yep, that;s been clarified.
This was an illegal checkpoint with illegal actions on the part of the border patrol.
On what basis do you say the checkpoint was "illegal"?
What does being a Baptist preacher have to do with this story?
Bread delivery man beaten and tazed by Border patrol....
The red flags go up with these stories when it’s made to imply a pastor has been targeted for his faith.
Does that excuse how he was treated? No.
Do you expect kid glove treatment from Border patrol officers that have one of the most frustrating jobs on earth? No.
I wouldn’t mess with those guys. I would get after our elected officials who will not enforce immigration laws.
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