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Customs officer fatally shoots motorist at border
Arizona Republic ^ | 13 Feb 2003 | AP

Posted on 02/13/2003 11:06:02 AM PST by JackelopeBreeder

Edited on 05/07/2004 5:21:08 PM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]

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To: hexpoppy; All
Your statement bears repeating:

In times like these never behave in a threating manner to an armed man wearing a badge.
61 posted on 02/14/2003 10:55:53 AM PST by CyberAnt ( Yo! Syracuse)
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To: Happy2BMe
Was the dirver a U.S. citizen?

Many Mexican drug smugglers obtain US citizenship, it's easy and encouraged now to have both citizenships so US citizenhip is almost irrelevant. This is all part of the Mexicanization of the USA ----listen to their popular songs for example Los Tigres del Norte and other popular bands ---killing law enforcement agents is glorified---so much that the narco-corridos make gangsta rap seem naive. In McAllen last week a Mexican cop was shot down, it's very very common in Mexico for cops to kill citizens for the citizens to kill cops.

62 posted on 02/14/2003 11:08:47 AM PST by FITZ
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To: CyberAnt
In times like these never behave in a threating manner to an armed man wearing a badge.

Very very unlikely that an American would attempt to run the border during Elevated Terrorism Alerts like we're now in. There was a reason this guy didn't want to be stopped and have his vehicle inspected ---probably just a drug smuggler wanting his big profits.

63 posted on 02/14/2003 11:11:00 AM PST by FITZ
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To: FITZ
I know that - wow! everybody's so grumpy today!
64 posted on 02/14/2003 12:21:52 PM PST by CyberAnt ( Yo! Syracuse)
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To: FreeTally; FITZ; Tancredo Fan; madfly
Port Runners are really dangerous and have zero respect for our laws or our border employees. My daughter (Customs Inspector) was almost killed by one. I'm delighted they caught this one and he won't be a further problem. It will be interesting to see what was in the car when they get done dismantling it. If anyone finds out, please post.
65 posted on 02/14/2003 8:04:11 PM PST by holyscroller (Why are Liberal female media types always ugly to boot?)
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To: holyscroller
He also could be someone with a criminal record who didn't want to be caught. Lately we're seeing more of their drug lord wars spilling over to this side of the border, plus they've been finding more felons now that they're actually looking a little more because of higher security.
66 posted on 02/15/2003 8:25:58 AM PST by FITZ
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To: JackelopeBreeder
MORE INFORMATION:

Motorist killed by customs inspector
By L. Anne Newell
The Arizona Daily Star (Tucson), February 14, 2003
http://www.azstarnet.com/star/fri/30214CUSTOMSSHOOTING.html

A U.S. Customs Service inspector fatally shot a motorist Thursday at the
Lukeville port of entry after he apparently threatened the inspector and
tried to drive through the port, officials said.

The motorist, who was not identified, was pronounced dead at the scene
after his red Chevrolet Suburban drove through the port and came to rest
about 85 yards down Highway 85, said Roger Maier, a customs spokesman. The
vehicle crossed into opposing lanes as it drifted, he said, but there were
no other vehicles on the road.

The 46-year-old customs inspector, a 17-month veteran of the agency whose
name also was not released, was not injured in the incident, Maier said.
The shooting occurred only a few miles from where National Park Service
Ranger Kris Eggle was killed in a shootout last August, about 150 miles
southwest of Tucson

The incident began at 8:50 a.m., as the Chevy, which had Arizona plates,
tried to enter the United States, Maier said.

The inspector thought the vehicle, the only one in the port at the time,
was suspicious, Maier said, and other inspectors recognized the driver as
one who'd forced his way through the port at least twice before.

The Pima County Sheriff's Department is investigating the shooting. Sgt.
James Ogden said the inspector "recognized the driver as a port-runner."

The inspector asked the motorist to comply with a search of the vehicle,
Maier said, but the man did not.

A confrontation ensued and the inspector felt he was in danger and fired
his Glock 9 mm semiautomatic handgun once into the vehicle, Maier said.

Customs investigators had not been able to search the dead man's SUV by
Thursday evening, Maier said, and could not say whether it contained
illegal drugs or contraband.

Ogden said the Suburban was sealed at the scene by homicide detectives and
transported to Tucson to be examined.

The inspector - who worked for an East Coast police department before
joining Customs - should receive time off to recover from the incident, he
said.

Authorities closed the port while they investigated the incident.
Department of Public Safety officers turned away motorists at Why, some 30
miles to the north, said Officer Frank Valenzuela, a spokesman.

Maier said the closure didn't impede a large number of motorists,
estimating 800 to 900 vehicles enter the United States via the port each
day. Normally open 6 a.m. to midnight, the port was reopened at 5 p.m.,
officials said.

The incident was unusual, he said, but not the first of its kind.

In addition to the shootout that killed Eggle, a Mexican customs inspector
was fatally shot about 50 yards south of the Nogales port of entry in
November 1997. Last year, a Tohono O'odham police officer was seriously
injured when he was run over by a smuggler's vehicle in a remote area about
eight miles north of the border.

And late Tuesday, a U.S. Border Patrol agent suffered a concussion when two
members of a group of suspected illegal entrants he was tracking hit him on
the head, neck and back with a large rock. Early the next day, two groups
of illegal entrants said they'd been shot at in the desert near Three
Points. One man was hit in the stomach but is expected to survive.

+++

Suspected border runner killed; port closed 7 hrs.
Some 200 headed to Rocky Point are stranded all day
By Irene Hsiao
The Tucson (Ariz.) Citizen, February 14, 2003
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/local/2_14_03lukeville.html

LUKEVILLE -- A man U.S. Customs Service officials say had raced through the
Lukeville port of entry without stopping at least twice before was shot to
death there yesterday after a confrontation with a U.S. Customs inspector.

The man, who has not been identified, may have been smuggling drugs,
Customs officials said.

Authorities had not yet searched the vehicle and did not know whether drugs
were in it.

The man stopped at the port of entry about 8:50 a.m. in a red Chevrolet
Suburban with an Arizona license plate and a "scuffle ensued" with a
46-year-old Customs inspector, said Pima County Sheriff's Department
spokesmanSgt. Jim Ogden.

The Sheriff's Department is investigating the incident.

The man drove about 100 yards after he was shot, Ogden said. The truck ran
into a shrub and stopped under a sign marking the entrance to Mexico.

The inspector suspected the driver was smuggling drugs because the man got
in his way while he was inspecting the vehicle, said Customs spokesman
Roger Maier.

Ogden did not have the details of the scuffle and did not know why the
inspector fired his pistol.

Maier said he did not know where the bullet hit the man. Customs inspectors
carry 9 mm semiautomatic Glocks, he said.

The sealed vehicle was hauled to sheriff's headquarters on Benson Highway
yesterday and will be searched today.

Authorities have not yet said whether the man had a weapon.

The inspector has been with Customs for 17 months. He is a retired East
Coast police officer, Maier said.

Border running, called port running by Customs officials, is more common in
urban ports of entry such as El Paso, Texas, than in smaller ones, such as
Lukeville.

Port runners drive through border crossings without stopping in order to
avoid inspection.

Port running does not occur as often as it did 10 years ago in El Paso,
Maier said. He said it peaked in 1994 with about 30 port runners a month.
Now it's down to one or two a month, he said. Large concrete barriers and
stop sticks, devices that puncture tires, were installed to stop the
runners, Maier said.

After yesterday's incident, an estimated 200 vehicles were stranded near
the Lukeville port the crossing point to the popular tourist destination
Puerto Peñasco, Son., or Rocky Point. The crossing was shut down during the
day and reopened at 4:40 p.m..

"This is just awful," said Kathy Ross, a secretary from Tucson who was one
of the drivers stranded on the American side of the border. She was
planning to stay in her Rocky Point trailer for the first time. "This is
very sad, whatever the case may be. There's too much violence in this world."

Also stranded were Carlos Sarabia, 28, and Carlos Borja, 21, who live in
Rocky Point. They had been in Phoenix for a soccer game and were going home.

Sarabia was missing work and Borja was missing school while they were stranded.

"It looks like I won't be going to school," Borja said in Spanish. He goes
to a tech school in Rocky Point. His class started at 3 p.m.

Joe Godinez, 52, a Tolleson contractor, sat in his car, trying to play cards.

Roy Wilson, 67, who was visiting from Des Moines, Iowa, and has a house in
Mesa, was going to his condo in Rocky Point. "I'm not at all happy, I'd
rather be down there having a cerveza," he said.

67 posted on 02/16/2003 6:57:21 PM PST by Marine Inspector
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To: and the horse you rode in on
I don't care if they start shooting people at random when they cross the border if it will discourage Criminal Infiltration..

Uh, yeah. But seriously now, there is certainly more to this story. Hopefully we will hear it.

68 posted on 02/16/2003 6:59:08 PM PST by TankerKC (Analyzing Iraq requires intellectual work, spouting off about the US requires only attitude.)
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To: the gillman@blacklagoon.com

Thanks for playing Fantasy Ideology.

69 posted on 02/16/2003 7:00:45 PM PST by Cultural Jihad
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To: freeeee; CWOJackson; Chancellor Palpatine; cksharks; Poohbah; Carry_Okie; VaBthang4

I agree. Did you see the discrepancy in these two news accounts of what allegedly happened?


#1: The man pulled away from the border crossing but drove off the road within 100 yards and died, Maier said.


#30: The vehicle traveled north about 85 yards, where it went off the road and the driver died.

Well, which was it? 100 yards? Or 85 yards? Someone is not telling the truth here. I smell a cover-up!

70 posted on 02/16/2003 7:17:34 PM PST by Cultural Jihad
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To: JackelopeBreeder; freeeee; CWOJackson; Chancellor Palpatine; cksharks; Poohbah; Carry_Okie; ...

"Gringo Pass" Lukeville Border Crossing
71 posted on 02/16/2003 7:26:26 PM PST by Cultural Jihad
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To: Cultural Jihad
Thanks for playing Fantasy Ideology.
Looks like a bunch of folks, even you, are playing the same game. It looks like the rules are different for every player.

Society leads an ideologue to civilization
How does society lead an ideologue (an often blindly partisan advocate or adherent of a particular ideology) to civilization?

72 posted on 02/16/2003 7:51:21 PM PST by philman_36
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To: Marine Inspector
Saw these late Friday -- looks like you called it exactly right on Thursday. As usual...
73 posted on 02/16/2003 7:58:39 PM PST by JackelopeBreeder (Meddle not in the affairs of dragons. For you are crunchy and good with ketchup.)
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To: Marine Inspector
"I'm not at all happy, I'd rather be down there having a cerveza," he said.


Puerto Peñasco

74 posted on 02/16/2003 8:05:25 PM PST by Cultural Jihad
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To: Marine Inspector
My first reaction was to damn the shooter... but given more info, might could be a bad idea to do that. Thanks for providing that info. Semper fi!
75 posted on 02/16/2003 8:19:42 PM PST by dcwusmc ("The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself.")
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To: JackelopeBreeder
LUKEVILLE - A U.S. Customs inspector fatally shot a motorist Thursday who had apparently threatened him during an attempted inspection at a border crossing, a spokesman said.

More like "Luke-warmville".

76 posted on 02/16/2003 8:20:28 PM PST by Go Gordon (I wonder what Brooke is up to.....)
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To: and the horse you rode in on
Bravo. Hope your son has learned well from you. Good luck to him!
77 posted on 02/16/2003 8:21:21 PM PST by dcwusmc ("The most dangerous man, to any government, is the man who is able to think things out for himself.")
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To: Cultural Jihad
Well, which was it? 100 yards? Or 85 yards? Someone is not telling the truth here. I smell a cover-up!

Take off the tinfoil, LOL.

78 posted on 02/16/2003 8:23:34 PM PST by Marine Inspector
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To: dcwusmc
Your welcome.
79 posted on 02/16/2003 8:24:19 PM PST by Marine Inspector
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To: Diddle E. Squat
Ha, this article puts the whacko's here in a quandary

As far as wacko's are concerned it didn't take long for you to bring up the JBT theory. Kind of a leap with so little information available.

80 posted on 02/16/2003 8:39:05 PM PST by thepitts
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