March 28, 2007, 8:32PM
Border shooting video backs migrants


By ARTHUR H. ROTSTEIN Associated Press Writer
© 2007 The Associated Press

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TUCSON, Ariz. — A grainy surveillance video taken as a Border Patrol agent fatally shot an illegal immigrant appears to lend credence to the surviving immigrants' accounts of what happened.

The Cochise County attorney released the video clips and documents this week after public records requests by The Associated Press and two newspapers. The shooting has drawn condemnation from the Mexican government and spurred an FBI civil rights investigation.

Border Patrol agent Nicholas Corbett encountered a group of four immigrants among a larger group of border crossers whom he and other agents were rounding up on Jan. 12 near Naco. The group included three brothers and one man's wife.

Corbett has declined to be interviewed by investigators but told other agents that he came around the front of his SUV, saw a man with a rock in his hand close to the rear of the vehicle and fired when the man moved to throw it.

The witnesses said the agent came from behind the victim, and the video appears to support that version.

One clip shows Corbett's Border Patrol vehicle driving up to a small group of people and circling around them. The agent then opens the door and emerges from behind his SUV, running toward the group, bunched near his rear bumper.

He then appears to have contact with one person.

Within seconds, Corbett apparently pushed one of the immigrants, Francisco Javier Dominguez Rivera, toward the ground and shot him, authorities said.

The video, taken from a camera mounted on a tower about two miles away, lacks the clarity to distinguish details, including the shooting.

The FBI is trying to enhance the tape. County Attorney Ed Rheinheimer said he is awaiting results of the FBI's investigation before deciding whether to charge Corbett.

The agent's lawyer said Tuesday he had not seen the reports and could not comment.

Corbett has been back on active duty since a mandatory three-day leave, patrol spokesman Gustavo Soto said Wednesday. On Tuesday, another spokesman had said that Corbett returned to duty only about two weeks ago; Soto said that was not the case.
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