EL PASO, Texas - Border Patrol Agent Ignacio Ramos could hear his heart racing. He could feel the dry, hot dust burning against his skin as he chased a drug trafficker trying to flee back into Mexico.You read that correctly. The drug smuggler (who was given immunity and testified against the agents at trial) escaped back across the border with his 800 pounds of marajuana, but the border guards are looking at hard time. Plus, it turns out that the agents broke policy by chasing the smuggler in the first place because "The Border Patrol pursuit policy prohibits the pursuit of someone."Ramos' fellow agent, Jose Alonso Compean, was lying on the ground behind him, banged up and bloody from a scuffle with the much-bigger smuggler moments earlier.
Suddenly the smuggler turned toward the pursuing Ramos, gun in hand. Ramos, his own weapon already drawn, shot at him, though the man was able to flee into the brush and escape the agents.
Now, nearly 18 months after that violent encounter, Ramos and Compean are facing 20 years in federal prison for their actions.
Why?
According to the U.S. attorney who successfully prosecuted the agents, the man they were chasing didn't actually have a gun, shooting him in the back violated his civil rights, the agents didn't know for a fact that he was a drug smuggler, and they broke Border Patrol rules about discharging their weapons and preserving a crime scene.
Amazing.
DailyBulletin.com: Convicted Border Agent Tells His Story
If you're as ticked off as I am about this, you can sign a petition for President Bush to pardon these agents here.
filed: politics
1 comment:
This is the problem with the freakin' lib's running things. Not only should the lawyer that tried these guys be shot, so should the drug dealer, and anybody who helped convict these guys. What a bunch of nanny-poos.
Post a Comment