Posted on 01/24/2007 5:51:23 AM PST by NapkinUser
"If you were (maybe you are) a BP agent, that chases drug smugglers, wouldn't it be reasonable to believe they might be armed?"
Possibly but that was not the scenario here nor is it what the law allows. My assumption that someone may be armed simply is not enough to begin legally firing on them. Where live, there is no telling who is packing. That would give the cops carte blanche to drop whoever they wanted. No thanks.
I also disagree with the PC nuttiness and how many times the law is hamstrung by loony rules. I tend to think, with you, that they just panicked. That is why 10 years is such a crazy sentence.
My point is that the way things have degenerated re: immigration/border control, the crazies have turned this (or attempted to turn it) into some witch hunt of our noble law enforcement guys by a hispanic pandering group determined to "sell us out" or some other such idiotic nonsense. It is not, and it just shows them to be the fixated drooling haters they insist on being.
I am not sure the guy had no gun. He CLAIMED he had no gun and the agents had forfeited their credibility by obstruction and lying. However, I certainly would not try to haul 750 pounds of dope somewhere without a gun. Would you?
"and that felons are protected from such by the 4th amendment."
One is not a felon until he has been convicted in a court of law.
I stole my own bicycle back from from some kid who parked it in front of a store. Everybody who saw it thought I stole HIS bike and were chasing me down the highway. Glad you weren't there, I'd likely be dead. ;-)
According to the testimony, the driver of the van, Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila, failed to yield to Agent Ramos’ attempt to stop him, jumped out of his vehicle and attempted to run back to Mexico. After Ramos told Aldrete-Davila to stop, Ramos drew his service revolver and pointed it at Aldrete-Davila. Aldrete-Davila jumped into a steep ditch filled with dirty water and when he tried to climb the steep incline out of the ditch, he was confronted by defendant Compean, waiting for him with a shotgun pointed directly at him. During his testimony, Compean acknowledged that at that time Aldrete-Davila held his hands up, as if to surrender, with his palms open, and no weapon was in either hand, or evident on his person. [] Agent Ramos also testified that when he saw Aldrete-Davila in the ditch, he had an opportunity to look at Aldrete-Davila’s hands, which he is trained to do for self defense and defense of another, and did not see any weapons in either of Aldrete-Davila’s hands. [emphasis added]
Source: U.S. Attorney’s Office, Western District of Texas, press release, Sept. 8, 2006.
That wasn't what I posted. I wasn't justifying a shooting. I said that if your job was to arrest drug smugglers....people who will do whatever they can to keep from getting caught, including firing at officers in the past, would it be reasonable to believe they might be armed and that you could be killed if you let your guard down? Or would you go into a situation like that believing a drug smuggler was unarmed and harmless?
"I would be inclined to believe the agents and support them were it not for their despicable behavior in attempting to cover up the incident and lying about until they were caught."
I was 100% behind them until I started getting actual facts, which incriminate the agents.
Re your post #20: well said.
agree completely!! and what has Monica Ramos to lose by telling the truth? Too many posters here do not know the facts of the case and are misrepresenting what happened. Not to mention they take the word of a drug smuggler against those of the Border Patrol agents.
agree completely!! and what has Monica Ramos to lose by telling the truth? Too many posters here do not know the facts of the case and are misrepresenting what happened. Not to mention they take the word of a drug smuggler against those of the Border Patrol agents.
It would be a lot more convincing if the actual testimony was available, rather than the word of someone who has a vested interest in the case (the prosecutor). Still, I suppose this is as good we have at this point.
Do y'all seriously not know the difference between the back and the butt?
'Cause the drug dealer got shot in the latter, not the former.
That this dirtbag got capped in the ass is excellent, and we should trumpet the fact.
many thanks and keep spreading the word!!
If the howlers would SHUT UP long enough to learn about the facts of the case, Bush might consider commuting the sentences to a more reasonable punishment. However, with the immigraphobes all glassy eyed and screeching at full tilt, it is hard to get a sane thought in this thing, much less a sane word.
If I were in any kind of law enforcement, as a matter of personal safety, I would assume every perp was armed until I saw different or heard "clean" from another officer. I believe that is SOP. It's not a ticket to pull the trigger, though.
I could understand these guys getting wound up in the heat of things and pulling the trigger on this guy. That doesn't make it right, but I can get my mind around it. What I can't understand is the cover-up and refusal to report the incident.
My point is that we do not know for sure wither way if the smuggler was armed, though common sense would lead one to suspect that a major drug runner crossing an international border would most likely be packing. Anyhow, there have been more than one freeper who have posted "the smuggler was unarmed" as a fact, when it is not.
I think Compean freaked (for whatever reason), and Ramos took a fall because (in the heat of the moment) he tried to cover-up in order to protect his partner.
Read my #85 and weep.
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