Agent's assailant sentenced to prison

http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/03 ... 3_2_07.txt

By: North County Times -

SAN DIEGO -- The driver of a car that dragged a Border Patrol agent into oncoming traffic in North County was sentenced Friday in San Diego to 15 months in federal prison, authorities said.

U.S. District Judge Dana M. Sabraw also ordered defendant Francisco Javier Rodriguez-Salazar, 21, to serve two years of supervised release when he is released from custody. (note: why will he not be deported?)

Rodriguez-Salazar, a Mexican citizen who is in this country illegally, pleaded guilty Dec. 15 to a grand jury indictment alleging assault on a federal officer, said Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher Ott.

He said the agent, who has since retired, was bruised and sore after the Aug. 17 incident on North River Road near Bonsall.

"Everybody's very lucky that the agent wasn't injured severely or dead," Ott said.

According to court records, Rodriguez-Salazar was driving a Mazda that day and he had a passenger.

As an immigration check was under way while the car was stopped, Rodriguez-Salazar drove off with the agent's right arm stuck in the passenger's side window, documents said.

When the car stopped, the driver and passenger ran. Although Rodriguez-Salazar was taken into custody, the passenger is still a fugitive, Ott said.