Mexican Couple Sues U.S. in Federal Court

The parents of a teenaged resident of the Mexican city of Juarez today sued the U.S. government for $25 million in connection with the boy's shooting death at the hands of U.S. Border Patrol agents in El Paso last year.

The Border Patrol says Sergio Hernandez Guereca, 15, was pelting U.S. agents with rocks from the Mexican side of the Rio Grande last June when Border Patrol agents on the U.S. side shot him to death.

But attorney Bob Hilliard told 1200 WOAI’s Berit Mason that the boy was the victim of 'brutality' on the part of the federal agents, and was 'shot in cold blood.'

"I have seen brutality at the n'th degree from trained officers," Hilliard said. "We have seen brutality captured on video tape that stuns us as a country, when we think that law enforcement are trained and should not do that."

The incident was video taped by several individuals and was broadcast on the Spanish-language Univision television network, and posted on the Internet, and it came to represent the lawless nature of the violence along the Texas Mexico border. It is unclear from the grainy cell phone video whether the boy was throwing rocks at the time.

"Part of this lawsuit seeks to require the government to turn over the border camera video and see it and get a better look at it," he said.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in El Paso, names the Department of Homeland Security, The U.S. Border Patrol, the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and an 'unnamed agent' of the U.S. Border Patrol as defendants.

"The parents are hopeful that the main thing they get is an accounting of the Border Patrol's conduct," Hilliard said, adding he is hoping that criminal charges will be filed against the agent.

The case has widened a gulf between the Border Patrol and activist groups who say the U.S. uses a heavy hand in dealing with issues regarding immigration and human smuggling.

The F.B.I. has claimed that Hernandez was a known immigrant smuggler who had been pressed into service by smuggling gangs which wanted to take advantage of his young age to guide illegal immigrants into the United States, and they have said that he was attacking the border agents with rocks at the time.

"It was clear from the witness statements early on that something had happened that should not have happened," Hillard said. "The U.S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, actually said an investigation into this young man's civil rights is ongoing. This is a serious international incident."

Hilliard says since the gunman was a U.S. federal agent firing from U.S. soil, and the bullet traveled into another 'sovereign country' and killed a person who was 'legally in that sovereign country,' jurisdiction will also be a major issue in this case. The shooting has been condemned by Mexico's president and has been the cause of demonstrations in Juarez, which is located across the river from El Paso and is one of the most violent cities in the world due to the ongoing war between powerful smuggling gangs.

The lawsuit claims the unknown agent used 'unlawful, excessive deadly force' and claims the victim was 'defenseless, was offering no resistance, had no weapon of any kind, and had not nor was threatening Agent Doe or any third party with harm'

In a statement provided by Hilliard's law firm, Border Patrol Chief of Staff Robert Lewandowski says the incident 'is not attributable to a negligent of wrongful act or omission by an employee while the employee was acting within the scope of his or her employment.'

The agent who shot Hernandez has never been identified and has never faced criminal charges.

‘Ridiculous Lawsuits’ Are No Laughing Matter
A Florida doctor was hospitalized with severe abdominal pains after eating an entire grilled artichoke at a restaurant, then sued the restaurant for not telling him he wasn’t supposed to eat the outer leaves.
That’s just number five on a list of the “Most Ridiculous Lawsuits of 2010” compiled by the U.S. Chamber Institute for Legal Reform (ILR), an affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
“While many of these lawsuits are humorous and others quite troubling, the damage inflicted by abusive litigation is very real,” said ILR President Lisa Rickard.
“More litigation is something we can ill afford in this troubled economy that desperately needs more jobs, not more lawsuits.”
Topping the list of the “Most Ridiculous” is the suit filed by a West Virginia woman against Oprah Winfrey, George W. Bush, Laura Bush, and three doctors. She claimed the physicians implanted a 3-D camera and a wire sensor inside her during surgery, and the defendants were monitoring her 24 hours a day through the camera.
Number two is the suit filed by a Montana girl who tried to commit suicide by driving into oncoming traffic. The resulting crash killed a four-months-pregnant woman and her 13-year-old son. The suit, filed against the pregnant victim’s estate, alleged that the woman inflicted mental pain and suffering by causing the crash.
Number three was filed by an incarcerated killer after a Massachusetts judge rejected his request for electrolysis as part of a state-funded sex change.
Number four was filed by a Wisconsin teacher who pleaded guilty to having sex with a 13-year-old boy in her home, then sued the boy’s parents for failing to protect the child from her.
Her claim “represents convoluted reasoning reminiscent of Lewis Carroll,” a court declared. “We will not follow down the rabbit hole and open the door for a child molester to sue the victim’s parents for their failure to lock their child away or for their ineffectiveness in trying to stop the child from being sexually abused.”
Another lawsuit cited by the ILR was filed by an Oregon man who claimed police destroyed the mystical powers of his medicine bag when they opened it during his drunk driving arrest.

The parents had to know he was into smuggling , working for the cartels, the boy had to be coming home with large sums of money of which in Mexico comes down to smuggling humans,drugs, kidnapping.The parents knew what he was up to. They lost their meal ticket and now want to be all about law and order. The parents should have taught the boy you do not go to the border and start throwing rocks on the other side at the American agents without them taking action. They want these border agents to be sitting ducks. How many Americans have been shot and killed in Mexico.We do not get to file lawsuits.The police give you the round around and they do not know how to do an actual police investigation.Let one of their people have something happen to them, everybody is quick to file lawsuits for millions.

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