Personally, I would have given these guys a medal [ref]. Instead they got thrown in jail.
Former President George Bush set things right by commuting their sentence right at the end of his term.
Bush Commutes Sentences for Two Former Border Patrol Agents
Former President George Bush set things right by commuting their sentence right at the end of his term.
On his last full day in office, President Bush commuted the controversial sentences of two former Border Patrol agents convicted of shooting a Mexican drug runner in 2005. The imprisonment of Ignacio Ramos and Jose Alonso Compean had sparked outcry from critics who said the men were just doing their jobs and were punished too harshly. They had been sentenced to 11- and 12-year sentences, respectively.Let's hope they earn some decent compensation from the inevitable TV appearances, and get their jobs back, if they want them.
Bush Commutes Sentences for Two Former Border Patrol Agents
Soooo, blazing away at a suspect is accepted police & border patrol technique now? I thought they were supposed to use their superior numbers and technoology to track and arrest suspects....
ReplyDeleteAnd then failing to properly report and collect evidence for your shoot up at the OK corral. Clearly they should have got a medal - perhaps the Dick Cheney 'shotgun a lawyer' memorial Star of Texas medal?
Imagine if the cop who shot Halatau Naitoko on the NW motorway in Auckland recently was not arrested, but given a medal, after he failed to mention to his bosses that he'd shot someone. Think we'ld have an outcry?
Perhaps we shouldn't demonise people - before or after they are convicted (or acquitted) of being dope dealers.
Oh wait, we didn't arrest the NW motorway shooting cop, and he may yet get a medal (or at least a wet bus ticket over the wrist from the 'Independent' Police Congratulatory Authority). At least the media reports saved him having to report to his superiors...
ReplyDeleteSuspect? The drug smuggler with 600 pounds of marijuana in his van?
ReplyDeleteSome-one who fails to heed the "stop or I'll shoot warnings, and indeed appears to be packing a weapon?
They wounded the guy after shots fired but he got away. Because no-one appeared to be injured, one of the officers fails to complete his paper work.
You think that's a huge crime, and ignore the proven drug smuggling (the criminal left his van with the evidence).
These guys go out at night, knowing drug runners are prepared to use deadly force, where they may be killed in the line of duty, and you are worried about the crime of paper work?
And don't conflate the other case with this particular one, it doesn't make these heroes more or less guilty.
Your empathy for criminals is misplaced, and is completely undermined by the lack of respect you show for law enforcement agents performing a dangerous job.
"Your empathy for criminals is misplaced, and is completely undermined by the lack of respect you show for law enforcement agents performing a dangerous job."
ReplyDeleteAmen to that!
Fair call Zen - the suspect, Senor Davila, later pled guilty. He was a suspect at the time of the arrest, is all. And the analogy with the NW motorway shooting was more tongue in cheek than close comparison.
ReplyDeleteBut the DA felt there was evidence to prosecute, and the judge agreed, and gave the border patrol guys 11 and 12 years!
The question is - was there any need for them to shoot at Davila? And they were not blamed for not realising he was hit by the bullets (failing to render medical assistance), but because they failed to follow normal 'paperwork' procedures that ensure citizens know their cops are blazing away unscrutinised. Oh, and then they removed the bullet casings to cover up their shooting, which is both a crime, and an indication they had little grounds to shoot in the first place.
So, misplaced empathy for criminals? No, empathy for people, even if they commit crimes (and for the border patrol guys - jail for them especially would not have been a picnic). But also empathy for justice in the way customs and cops do their jobs.
Oh, and while it may be worse in the US, in NZ policing is not a dangerous job - it ranks moderate risk on ACC stats. Being a fisheries, forestry or construction worker are the really dangerous occupations.
Curiously, the one good thing from this is the restraint Bush jr showed in issuing pardons and commutations, especially as his oil & banking buddies must have sure been in need of a presidential pardon now and then ;)
The question is - was there any need for them to shoot at Davila?
ReplyDeleteThey said they thought he had a gun.
As for stats, they are just stats. Take away the desk jockeys and maybe the numbers change.
They certainly did for the Auckland cop putting a bug on the drug runners car. He got shot and died, even with backup just around the corner.
Had he retaliated, guns blazing and defended himself, he would no doubt go through a full investigation.
Had he shot first, because he believed these guys meant business, the default would be by far too many people, to assume he was trigger happy.
Those people weren't there though, those people wouldn't have had that sense these criminals would kill him with no compunction.
And they did.
Had bullets gone flying, on a dark night, out on a track somewhere off the desert road, and no-one was injured, I could see why cops might want to head off the paper work.
The paper work says you fired your weapon because you thought you needed to.
By default, that's not enough. You can't say "I felt I was going to be killed", even though that's what can happen when you try to arrest drug smugglers who fail to stop, who run in the dark night and look like they have a gun.
It might even be that you end up pleading guilty because you get some second rate lawyer from the State who thinks a deal will get you out sooner. So you plead guilty thinking the circumstances will be taken into account, thinking the judge will know what's it's like trying to run down a drug smuggler at night, hearing shots fired and shooting back.
He doesn't though. He just sits there and smiles and says "forestry is a dangerous job. You were never in danger. That makes you a fascist. Life."
I'm not over-reacting here. Look at this story, where some guy is being sued 32 million for arresting illegal immigrants on his property:
An Arizona man who has waged a 10-year campaign to stop a flood of illegal immigrants from crossing his property is being sued by 16 Mexican nationals who accuse him of conspiring to violate their civil rights when he stopped them at gunpoint on his ranch on the U.S.-Mexico border.
Roger Barnett, 64, began rounding up illegal immigrants in 1998 and turning them over to the U.S. Border Patrol, he said, after they destroyed his property, killed his calves and broke into his home.
His Cross Rail Ranch near Douglas, Ariz., is known by federal and county law enforcement authorities as "the avenue of choice" for immigrants seeking to enter the United States illegally.
Trial continues Monday in the federal lawsuit, which seeks $32 million in actual and punitive damages for civil rights violations, the infliction of emotional distress and other crimes. Also named are Mr. Barnett's wife, Barbara, his brother, Donald, and Larry Dever, sheriff in Cochise County, Ariz., where the Barnetts live. The civil trial is expected to continue until Friday.
The lawsuit is based on a March 7, 2004, incident in a dry wash on the 22,000-acre ranch, when he approached a group of illegal immigrants while carrying a gun and accompanied by a large dog.
Attorneys for the immigrants - five women and 11 men who were trying to cross illegally into the United States - have accused Mr. Barnett of holding the group captive at gunpoint...
..It also said Mr. Barnett acknowledged that he had turned over 12,000 illegal immigrants to the Border Patrol since 1998.
In March, U.S. District Judge John Roll rejected a motion by Mr. Barnett to have the charges dropped.
Mr. Barnett told The Washington Times in a 2002 interview that he began rounding up illegal immigrants after they started to vandalize his property, northeast of Douglas along Arizona Highway 80. He said the immigrants tore up water pumps, killed calves, destroyed fences and gates, stole trucks and broke into his home.
Some of his cattle died from ingesting the plastic bottles left behind by the immigrants, he said, adding that he installed a faucet on an 8,000-gallon water tank so the immigrants would stop damaging the tank to get water.
Mr. Barnett said some of the ranch´s established immigrant trails were littered with trash 10 inches deep, including human waste, used toilet paper, soiled diapers, cigarette packs, clothes, backpacks, empty 1-gallon water bottles, chewing-gum wrappers and aluminum foil - which supposedly is used to pack the drugs the immigrant smugglers give their "clients" to keep them running.
He said he carried a pistol during his searches for the immigrants and had a rifle in his truck "for protection" against immigrant and drug smugglers, who often are armed.
"This is my land. I´m the victim here," Mr. Barnett said. "When someone´s home and loved ones are in jeopardy and the government seemingly can´t do anything about it, I feel justified in taking matters into my own hands. And I always watch my back."
How obvious does it have to be? He didn't even go in with guns blazing, and we get this kind of crap. After they bankrupt this guy in a lawsuit will they take away his guns so that drug smugglers can kill him and his family?
Washington Times
Hat tip: Crusader Rabbit