AZ: Off-duty Border Patrol agents assaulted
Off-duty Border Patrol agents assaulted
BY JAMES GILBERT, SUN STAFF WRITER
July 5, 2007 - 6:30PM
Two off-duty U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol agents from Yuma were assaulted Monday after stopping at a convenience store by a man who had been arrested by the agency several times in the past.
The agents, who are married and were dressed in plain clothes, stopped at the store and the husband went inside to make a purchase while she remained in the car with their infant child.
Border Patrol spokesman Andy Patterson did not have any information on the location of the convenience store.
According to Patterson, a patron inside the store was staring at the agent while he made a purchase. The patron then followed the agent out of the store and got into a sport utility vehicle.
After following the agents, the suspect suddenly rammed the agents' vehicle with his SUV, causing moderate damage, before fleeing the scene. Neither the agents nor their child was injured.
"The scary part is there was no justification for it. It could have happened to anyone," Patterson said.
Patterson said the agents were able to get the vehicle's license plate number and report the incident. The Yuma County Sheriff’s Office was also notified and began searching for the vehicle.
The vehicle was located Tuesday in the driveway of a Somerton residence by agents who were in the area doing unrelated surveillance, Patterson said.
Patterson said assistance from the Yuma County Sheriff’s Office was requested and an inspection of the vehicle confirmed it was the same one involved in the hit-and-run accident.
After questioning the owner of the residence, agents received permission to search the home and found a male matching the description of the suspect who rammed the agents hiding in a bedroom.
The suspect was determined to be a Mexican national who was illegally in the country and arrested. A records check in the Integrated Automated Fingerprint Identification System revealed he had 11 prior Border Patrol apprehensions in Yuma.
The suspect admitted to being the driver, but claimed he did not ram the off-duty agents on purpose and said he fled because he got scared.
He was cited for misdemeanor hit-and-run by the YCSO and is being prosecuted for illegal entry.
http://www.yumasun.com/news/agents_3508 ... erson.html
