US won't pursue charges in border agent shooting

A Border Patrol vehicle keeps watch beside the fence that divides the United States from Mexico in the town of Nogales, Ariz., April 22, 2010. / AFP/Getty Images

(AP) EL PASO, Texas - Federal prosecutors said Friday there was insufficient evidence to pursue charges against a U.S. Border Patrol agent in the shooting death of a 15-year-old Mexican national in 2010.

The agent didn't act inconsistently with Border Patrol policy or training regarding the use of force in the death of Sergio Hernandez-Guereca, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement announcing the decision, which was quickly denounced by the Mexican government.

U.S. authorities have said the agent shot Hernandez while trying to arrest illegal immigrants crossing the Rio Grande on June 7, 2010. Some witnesses said people on the Mexican side of the river, including Hernandez, were throwing rocks at the agent. Border agents are generally allowed to use lethal force against rock throwers.

The shooting occurred under one of the border bridges in El Paso, and it was recorded by an eyewitness with a cellphone.

The Mexican government issued a statement saying it "profoundly regrets and expresses its strong opposition to the decision" and was considering its next step. Mexican ambassador to the U.S. Arturo Sarukhan had a similar reaction to the decision, tweeting: "Mexico strongly rejects it."

The U.S. Justice Department also concluded that no federal civil rights charges could be pursued, saying that "accident, mistake, misperception, negligence and bad judgment were not sufficient to establish a federal criminal civil rights violation."

The department said it conducted a thorough investigation, including interviews with more than 25 civilian and law-enforcement witnesses.

"This review took into account evidence indicating that the agent's actions constituted a reasonable use of force or would constitute an act of self-defense in response to the threat created by a group of smugglers hurling rocks at the agent and his detainee," the department's statement said.

Last year, a judge in West Texas threw out a $25 million wrongful death lawsuit against the U.S. government over the fatal shooting. But the judge allowed a civil case against the agent to move forward.

Senior U.S. District Judge David Briones in El Paso dismissed the lawsuit because the teen was on the Mexican side of the Rio Grande when he was shot. U.S. law gives the government immunity when such claims arise in a foreign country, Briones noted, and the "harm that the Plaintiffs allege ... was felt in Mexico."

[ea6bq2]

Maybe the border patrol needs some of his own medicine. I think Mexico should get the Border Patrol Agent Extradited to Mexico and let the Mexican Justice Deal with it. Let's get some Mexican justice instead of white justice.

[expatriate2]

Craig_Burns April 28, 2012 12:36 PM EDT
@expatriate2, The punk was throwing rocks at the agent! Just a little target practice, that's all! HaHaHaHaHaHaHa!!!!
______________________________________________________________

The punk was the agent who did not follow procedure or his training as admitted by his superiors. There was NO EVIDENCE either by witnesses or the video that the kid was throwing rocks but, of course, the agent needed an excuse to commit murder. Moreover, the kid was in Mexico and never crossed the line into the U.S. He was shot by the agent in the U.S. but was hit and died on the Mexican side. Target practice? You're no better than the scum that killed this kid.

[rightontarget]

Either way it was obvious that the kid in question was in support of those trying to cross our border illegally. If he had not been then he wouldn't have been there in the first place. If you are a good Mexican you stay at home and mind your own business and let the border patrol do their job. We need stricter control of our borders and ANYBODY who supports or otherwise aids those trying to cross illegally deserves whatever they get!

[expatriate2]

I went from Mexicali to Tijuana that day. I know the area well. Kids play in the dry canal because when they kick a soccer ball it doesn't go into the street traffic above. Nothing in the video suggests that the kid was throwing rocks or supporting anything other than having fun on his side of the border. What kind of mentality would defend a border patrol agent shooting across the border to kill a kid in Mexico? What evidence do you or anyone else have suggesting that this kid intended to cross the border? There is none. In spite of complete evidence of misconduct and open murder, Americans go into their denial state where they can do nothing wrong and a kid's life is reduced to nothing only because he wasn't one of yours.

[alex-D-pumpkinhead]

It takes a real man to shoot a 15 year old boy.

[askagain]

expatriate2 - Read the article. The kid was throwing rocks at the agent. The article stated that lethal force can be used in a case like this. The United States did not ignore the incident but concluded the shooting was justified. So what if the shooting was recorded. That doesn't change whether something was justified. That is, unless you ignore the facts.

[expatriate2]

To hell with the article. I was there. SOME REPORTS said the kid was throwing rocks and even if it's true, he was on the Mexican side of the border in a dry canal bed. So, according to your biased idea, it's okay to shoot into Mexican territory and kill a Mexican citizen because SOME REPORTS said he was throwing rocks. Incidentally, nothing in the video supported that claim.

[LiveOak11]

In reference to Mexico "considering it's next step", I would recommend that the government of Mexico make a clear and bold statement that out of concern for the safety of it's citizens and that of any undocumented aliens that may be within it's borers, it will immediately close the southern side of the U.S./Mexico border, allowing only properly documented individuals to cross into and out of the United States. Problem solved.

[expatriate2]

Sure, insufficient evidence. It was only video taped for the world to see, except U.S. authorities, of course.