Border Agents Won't Face Charges in Taser-Related Death of Mexican Man Brian Bennett and Joseph Tanfani - The Los Angeles Times
go to original November 7, 2015

The "basic values" of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency include, "professionalism, honor, integrity, and respect for human life." According to the second installment of a PBS documentary, "Crossing The Line," however, many of the agency's employees are falling short of their stated ideals. (PBS Need to Know)

Federal prosecutors will not bring charges in the case of a Mexican man who died of a heart attack after he was hit and struck with a Taser by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at a border checkpoint in California five years ago, the Justice Department said Friday after closing the investigation.

Anastasio Hernandez-Rojas, 42, died May 31, 2010, days after the confrontation at the San Ysidro border station in San Diego. Hernandez-Rojas had been caught crossing the border illegally and was being taken back to Mexico when, according to agents, he began kicking and punching them.

The agents said Hernandez-Rojas continued to struggle even after he was handcuffed and hit with batons while on the ground. One agent then shocked him at least twice with a Taser, and agents zip-tied his legs.

Soon after, his breathing slowed and he became unresponsive, witnesses said. He was pronounced dead two days later after he was removed from life support at a nearby hospital.

The death is one of the border agency's most controversial use-of-force cases involving a Taser, which fires a painful but nonlethal electric charge intended to subdue a suspect.

Read the rest at The Los Angeles Times

Related: Mexico Blasts U.S. for Not Filing Charges in Border Patrol Death (Today Online)

Related: Should Border Patrol Require Body Cameras? Internal Review Says No (The Los Angeles Times)

Related: Border Patrol Accused in Decapitation Death in South Texas (beaumontenterprise)

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