Posted on 04/18/2009 8:37:39 AM PDT by kellynla
An Arizona pastor – Tasered, bloodied by broken glass and sporting 11 stitches in his head – claims his injuries came from being stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint 75 miles inside the U.S. and then being battered by police for refusing to allow agents to search his vehicle.
The incident earlier this week highlights tension between constitutional rights, the issue of border security and a controversial Supreme Court ruling that grants an exceptional level of police authority near the Mexican border.
Pastor Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe claims he did nothing to deserve his eventual arrest and believes that when he refused to allow the search of his car he was simply standing up for his Fourth Amendment rights, which protect him against unreasonable search without a warrant.
Anderson further questions why the Border Patrol is allowed to stop and search cars at a checkpoint along Interstate 8, 75 miles inland of where the highway nears the Mexican border at Yuma, Ariz.
"I was in the United States! I had crossed no international border!" writes Anderson in commentary accompanying a video he made about his experience.
"I didn't have any drugs; I didn't have a human beings in my car," he claims in the video itself. "Why is this happening in the United States of America?"
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnetdaily.com ...
Been the law for a long time. It is the well known habit of coyotes to stuff people into trucks and cars and drive them over the border into the US. People frequently die under those circumstances. Ergo, the stop and search justification.
Seems to me that a truly secure border would remove any excuse for an interior checkpoint.
It looks like all they have to say is that the dog alerted. How are you going to question that in court? We would not know if the dog alerted or not.
This is the kind of incident that is deliberately perpetrated by the government in order to inspire ire at policies boosting border enforcement. Next, Obama or the pro-immigration Dems will be saying, “See, this is why we shouldn’t have strong border enforcement.”
Never mind. I found it.
The “Automobile Exception”
“The most commonly-applied exception to the warrant requirement is the “automobile
exception,” which provides that, if law enforcement officers have probable cause to believe that an
automobile contains incriminating evidence or contraband, a warrantless seizure of the car (and its
driver), search of the car, and ultimate seizure of such items are permitted under the Fourth
Amendment.11 Officers need not believe that there are “exigent circumstances” justifying the
warrantless search; the mere fact that they possess probable cause to believe that contraband or
evidence is inside the vehicle is sufficient.12 This exception has been extended to apply to mobile
homes and boats, so long as such vehicles are “readily capable” of being made “movable.”13 Police
officers’ right to search vehicles without a warrant pursuant to the “automobile exception” does not
cease once the vehicle has been impounded by the police.14”
http://www.fd.org/pdf_lib/Automobiles%204th%20Amendment.pdf
I suspect there is more to this story. I’m having a tough time thinking the BP gave him a bloody smackdown. I’d like to believe had he refused a search, it would have prompted a legal Mexican Standoff. Of course, I could be wrong. I don’t like suspension of our rights under these circumstances either.
You can thank all the MADD lunatics who set the precedents for checkpoints and searches without warrants via their insane crusade against alcohol.
People were warned that DUI checkpoints would lead to other abuses by gov’t, but many turned a blind eye because it was for a ‘good’ cause.
Silly, pastor! Don’t you know border patrol agents are only allowed to get physical with Swedish-looking Americans?
I do not understand a checkpoint 75 miles from the border and searching the cars of American citizens. It boggles my mind.
Only a jurist could justify that exception. It’s a violation of the 4th amendment no matter how you look at.
It absolutely applies. But it doesn’t prevent unlawfull searches from happening. It does prevent any evidence gathered in such a search from being used in a court of law.
A $150 video camera could easily capture the dog's behavior.
I’ve been through that checkpoint many times. You slow down as you pull up to the checkpoint, roll down your window, they look at you and wave you on. Was there something about this Pastor that seemed suspicious? I doubt it. Maybe they have some sort of system like the TSA at airports where they have to pull someone out of the line for a more thorough search just because.
and yet, it’s definitely got some real scum off the streets in it’s time.
seems like the real issue is the beating they gave him
This interior enforcement is needed. Although this Pastor has spoken against illegal immigration (in a sermon on his website) his crusade to eliminate the checkpoints is counter-productive.
It appears the BP was quite patient with him for more than hour, called the Arizona state police to deal with him after he refused to answer the questions and blocked traffic behind him.
The Supreme Court has ruled that the checkpoints are legal within 100 miles of the border and for the specfic primary purpose of immigration control.
The Pastor lives in Arizona. He must know the purpose of the checkpoints and what the BP does when cars are checked or waived through. This incident is already being taken up by those favoring open borders, such as the ACLU, to argue for removal of the checkpoints and to encourage people not to cooperate with the BP.
The Pastor should apologize to the BP for his actions.
Not likely. The bureaucrats that run our government aren't smart enough to pull of any sort of conspiracy like that. Indeed they are among the stupidest people on earth. This sort of thing happens because they are stupid, not because they are smart. They are just being their ordinary a-hole selves.
When standing up for your “rights”, prepare to be searched and possibly beaten. That is what is going to happen. You may be able to sue later for the infringement on your rights but in today’s USA that is the reality. Not saying its right...just saying.
"Why is the sky blue? Why is the grass green?"
Naive little thing, ain't he?
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