From [HERE] and [HERE] A federal judge last Thursday tentatively approved an agreement for the U.S. government to pay $1 million to the children of a Mexican man who died after being detained by immigration authorities and shot several times with a Taser.
The decision at a hearing Thursday in San Diego is intended to end a nearly 7-year case that prompted widespread complaints that U.S. immigration authorities tolerated agents who use excessive force. Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges.
The 42-year-old unarmed man died after a confrontation with authorities in May 2010 at the San Ysidro Port of Entry. Authorities have said he was combative while being returned to Mexico.
The death attracted intense scrutiny in 2012 after an eyewitness video that aired on PBS appeared to show Hernandez being shot while lying on the ground, surrounded by about a dozen white agents.
The tapes show a man handcuffed and surrounded by about a dozen agents, as CBP personnel administer what appear to be five Taser shocks. One officer has his knee on Anastasio’s neck; the words “quit resisting” are heard over the prone man.
The San Diego coroner’s office classified Anastasio’s death as a homicide, recording in addition to a heart attack: “several loose teeth; bruising to his chest, stomach, hips, knees, back, lips, head and eyelids; five broken ribs; and a damaged spine.”
Sixteen members of Congress wrote DHS, concerned that “this incident is part of a larger cultural problem at the Department.” Indeed, as the Arizona Republic has reported, of at least 42 CBP-involved deaths since February 2005, no CBP employee has been known to face criminal or civil charges or disciplinary action.
For the last four years, Anastasio’s family has been denied justice in two key ways: First, as far as they know there have been no criminal or civil consequences for the CBP agents involved. It’s long past time for the Department of Justice to bring appropriate criminal charges.
Second, CBP has not yet changed its use-of-force policies – on paper or in practice. CBP has refused to release an external review it commissioned, and the ACLU has sued. The ACLU has criticized CBP’s policies for years, and we developed our own use-of-force recommendations for CBP based on best law enforcement practices.