Thread: Illegal gets $48K, Says he was assaulted by Agents

Illegal immigrant gets $48,000 in suit against border agents


The federal government has paid an illegal immigrant $48,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging he was assaulted and illegally arrested by two U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents while waiting for his 6-year-old son at a bus stop.

By Mike Carter

Seattle Times staff reporter

MOUNT VERNON — The federal government has paid an illegal immigrant $48,000 to settle a lawsuit alleging he was assaulted and illegally arrested by two U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents while waiting for his 6-year-old son at a bus stop.

The violent and public June 12, 2006, arrest of Isabel Valencia-Perez of Mount Vernon strained relations between the city's police department and the federal agency. There were enough questions over what had happened that city and Skagit County prosecutors contemplated filing criminal charges against agents Daryl Schermerhorn and Steven Malpezzi, according to documents obtained by The Seattle Times through a public-disclosure request.

The FBI opened a criminal civil-rights investigation, looking into allegations of excessive force and concerns the customs agents set an unreasonably high bail for Valencia-Perez and tried to have him deported as quickly as possible.

The Mexican Consul was so concerned with the incident that it sent a Seattle immigration lawyer to represent Valencia-Perez. The consulate even helped pay for his bond when the attorney, Manuel Rios, got it reduced from $50,000 to $5,000.

No charges ultimately were filed against the agents or Valencia-Perez. Customs and Border Patrol says neither of the agents was disciplined.

The lawsuit, filed last year, was settled by federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco, who declined to comment. The U.S. Attorney's Office in Seattle wasn't involved in the civil case because it had overseen the criminal civil-rights investigation.

Rios said the Department of Homeland Security terminated its efforts to deport Valencia-Perez, and that he and his family remain undocumented in the U.S.

"It's weird. They just walked away from it," he said. "It's like it never happened."

Rios is attempting to win Valencia-Perez a crime-victim's visa that would allow him to become a legal resident in three years due to his cooperation. So far, he's had no luck.

According to police and prosecutor's reports obtained by The Times, the agents had tried to arrest Valencia-Perez after spotting him sitting on the grass in a poor and heavily Latino Mount Vernon neighborhood. The agents were several miles from where they were supposed to be — checking for undocumented inmates in the local jail.

Agent an elected official

Malpezzi — who is an elected Ferndale City councilman — explained that he and Schermerhorn merely were familiarizing themselves with the area when they spotted Valencia-Perez, who the agents said looked nervous when they drove by in their unmarked white Ford Crown-Victoria.

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Schermerhorn, who has been an outspoken critic of immigration policies as the former regional vice president of the national Border Patrol union, told detectives he decided to "talk to this person about his alienage."

Valencia-Perez's attorneys say that translates to a case of racial profiling.

What ensued was an altercation between Schermerhorn and Valencia-Perez that, based on Mount Vernon police reports and court documents, came about mostly because Valencia-Perez didn't speak English, and Schermerhorn — who was in civilian clothes and a passenger in an unmarked car — didn't adequately identify himself as a federal agent.

Valencia-Perez later told police he had been nervous because the two "strange men" stared at him as they drove by. He stood when Schermerhorn exited the car and made a beeline toward him.

Schermerhorn said Valencia-Perez started to run so he grabbed him by the arm. Valencia-Perez said the man slugged him hard in the eye, and they fell fighting to the ground.

Mary Pullin, a Mount Vernon High School counselor, called 911 shortly before noon to report two men were fighting with a smaller man. She told the dispatcher one of the men was trying to wrap a chain around the smaller man. Several officers were dispatched.

Pullin had no idea the two larger men were federal agents.

Moreover, the agents hadn't told Mount Vernon police they were in the area, a courtesy among law-enforcement agencies who find themselves in someone else's jurisdiction.

The fight broke out less than a block from a neighborhood police office, according to the records.

Local officers in dark

Mount Vernon officers who responded to Pullin's 911 call had no idea what was going on, and one officer described in his report that he unsnapped his holster and prepared to draw his weapon when one of the men announced he had dropped a gun in the scuffle.

The weapon belonged to Malpezzi, who earlier had pointed it at Valencia-Perez's head before he dropped it, according to the police reports.

The agents also had attempted to subdue Valencia-Perez without handcuffs because neither of them was carrying a pair. They borrowed cuffs from a Mount Vernon officer once the confusion was cleared up.

One police officer noted the agents were in jeans and sports shirts without their badges visible or anything else to identify them as law-enforcement officers.

A Mount Vernon detective, in his report, said he "pointed out to the agents that if they decided to work in Mount Vernon, they should have contacted our dispatch center."

Detectives took Valencia-Perez to the police station, who waived his rights and went on to ask why he'd been attacked. The report notes his injuries included "swelling, bruising around his right eye-socket area, a bloodshot red right eye, swelling on the right cheek ... swelling and discoloration and bruising around his left cheek area" along with other contusions and bruising.

Schermerhorn suffered "two slight scratches" on his forehead. Malpezzi had a scratch on his wrist.

Pullin, the school counselor, later told the detectives that after the smaller man had been subdued and was lying facedown, one of the large men kicked him twice in the side. A 19-year-old passenger in her car said one of the agents was "striking with clenched fists and kicking the male on the ground." She described it as a "scary situation that was violent and aggressive," according to police reports.

Detectives in Mount Vernon referred the case to the Skagit County Prosecutor's Office, seeking felony assault charges against the agents. The prosecutor declined to file them, but suggested misdemeanor charges might be appropriate.

The City Attorney's Office determined that, once Valencia-Perez resisted, the officers were justified in using force to subdue him. Malpezzi, the prosecutor said, also was coming to the aid of a fellow officer.

But he also found that Valencia-Perez could not be prosecuted for resisting arrest. The agents had failed to properly identify themselves and, as a result, Valencia-Perez likely could claim self-defense, according to the documents.


http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/l ... st29m.html

134 comments at link

Since when does our Constitution guarantee illegal aliens the rights of a U.S. citizen?

Now it's legal for illegal aliens to resist arrest from law enforcement and be paid by the U.S. government to do that! Hey, any U.S. citizen here dumb enough to try and resist arrest? If you're lucky, you could hit the jackpot for breaking the law. Illegals hit the jackpot for coming here illegally and NOW for resisiting arrest...is this a great country or what!?! (For illegal aliens that is) No wonder they keep coming here, we pay them and reward them generously to break our laws!! We're all effin brain dead to allow this to continuously go on!

But if he were to assault a police officer or border patrol agent, we'd apologize and offer him more free goodies.

Who settled this lawsuit? Who is responsible for giving our tax dollars to a criminal? I wouldn't give him a dime.

The lawsuit, filed last year, was settled by federal prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney's Office in San Francisco,

So Pelosi is paying off her pre-American.

I'm sure the illegal alien went wild the minute they asked for ID.

Dixie

Rios said the Department of Homeland Security terminated its efforts to deport Valencia-Perez, and that he and his family remain undocumented in the U.S.

Homeland Security is a joke. This is why Americans are getting so fed up. No one is doing their job. ENFORCE THE LAWS. Get rid of illegal immigrants by deporting them. Taxpayers do not want to reward illegal aliens who accidently get hurt by police, border agents or ICE agents when trying to apprehend them.

It just makes you want to puke.

Originally Posted by JBParrothead

Since when does our Constitution guarantee illegal aliens the rights of a U.S. citizen?

Now it's legal for illegal aliens to resist arrest from law enforcement and be paid by the U.S. government to do that! Hey, any U.S. citizen here dumb enough to try and resist arrest? If you're lucky, you could hit the jackpot for breaking the law. Illegals hit the jackpot for coming here illegally and NOW for resisiting arrest...is this a great country or what!?! (For illegal aliens that is) No wonder they keep coming here, we pay them and reward them generously to break our laws!! We're all effin brain dead to allow this to continuously go on!

1. Since the Constitution was written, guaranteeing ALL PERSONS, inalienable rights.

2. If you read the article, he couldn't have been resisting arrest since the two feebies didn't bother to identify themselves until the local PD arrived on the scene.

People, come on. If this account is accurate, this person had no reason to know who these cowboys were. He was in all his right to fight back and, the two agents had no reasonable suspicion to detain him. I am glad he he fought back and won 48k regardless of his legal status.

If this person were legal, how many of you would agree with the government's actions? Don't leave your common sense at the door.

Originally Posted by ccsingleton

Originally Posted by JBParrothead

Since when does our Constitution guarantee illegal aliens the rights of a U.S. citizen?

Now it's legal for illegal aliens to resist arrest from law enforcement and be paid by the U.S. government to do that! Hey, any U.S. citizen here dumb enough to try and resist arrest? If you're lucky, you could hit the jackpot for breaking the law. Illegals hit the jackpot for coming here illegally and NOW for resisiting arrest...is this a great country or what!?! (For illegal aliens that is) No wonder they keep coming here, we pay them and reward them generously to break our laws!! We're all effin brain dead to allow this to continuously go on!

1. Since the Constitution was written, guaranteeing ALL PERSONS, inalienable rights.

2. If you read the article, he couldn't have been resisting arrest since the two feebies didn't bother to identify themselves until the local PD arrived on the scene.

X2

Originally Posted by attorneyatlaw

People, come on. If this account is accurate, this person had no reason to know who these cowboys were. He was in all his right to fight back and, the two agents had no reasonable suspicion to detain him. I am glad he he fought back and won 48k regardless of his legal status.

If this person were legal, how many of you would agree with the government's actions? Don't leave your common sense at the door.

US citizens have been murdered through their doors, beat half to death, tased to death in their wheel-chairs, their dogs killed before their eyes and then tied up and forced to sit in the blood of their pets by police officers. And I haven't read where any federal, state, county or city government paid them a dime because the officers weren't in uniform or failed to identify themselves. I totally support equal rights and equal protection under the law. But I don't support special rights or special privileges for foreign nationals in our country in violation of US immigration law. You aren't supporting equal rights, you're advocating special rights and fortunately, those flew out the window with the 14th Amendment and a series of US Civil Rights Acts. This illegal alien needs to be deported and Obama needs to repay our Treasury $48,000 with interest.