On video, Border Patrol pulls man from car, 35 miles north of border, on 'testable amount of marijuana'

[Newsjock]

http://photographyisnotacrime.com/blog/2015/03/border-patrol-agents-pull-man-from-car-in-chilling-video/

U.S. Border Patrol agents wasted no time in pulling a man out of his car at a checkpoint when he refused to tell them where he was headed and did not consent to having his trunk searched. “I do not consent to any searches or seizures,” said Rick Herbert, who had a camera planted on the dashboard in front of the driver’s seat.

... When Herbert again insisted on knowing what reasonable suspicion the agent had that he was committing a crime, the agent grabbed him by the arm and twisted it, trying to pull him out of the car, even though Herbert was strapped in with a seatbelt. Once Herbert was out of the car, Valdivia shoved him against the window of the back seat where Herbert’s four-year-old son was sitting, handcuffing him. An agent then stepped into the driver’s seat and drove the car to another area with Herbert’s wife still in the passenger’s seat and his son still in the back seat.

... The incident took place March 12 at a checkpoint 35 miles north of El Centro, a border town in California, east of San Diego.

... The Border Patrol provided the following statement to PINAC:
On March 12, 2015, at around 10:54 am, the driver of a Chevrolet Cavalier approached the El Centro Sector Highway 86 checkpoint where a Border Patrol K-9 detection team produced a positive alert to the vehicle for contraband. Because of this alert for contraband, the male driver was directed by agents to the secondary inspection area for a more thorough examination of the car. The man failed to follow the agents directions to drive to secondary and was removed from the vehicle. Agents searched the vehicle and discovered a small testable amount of marijuana under the driver’s seat. The California Highway Patrol was called to the scene where an CHP officer conducted a roadside sobriety test on the driver as a precaution. The driver was eventually released without any charges.

In an email interview with PINAC, Herbert said ... "there was no Marijuana in our possesion."

[Scuba]

1. Hey, the Border Patrol wouldn't plant a small testable amount of marijuana under the seat.

Would they?

[pscot]

3. Oh, heavens no.

[uponit7771]

2. IF for every one of these incidents the cities were sued for 500 million then maybe the cities or

... organizations would pay the fuck attention to the real assholes who join the LEO forces.

This is stupid, and it's kidnapping...

... and the LEO will be given a medal and time off with pay

[Comrade Grumpy]

4. Sorry, the border is a constitution-free zone.

And that includes up to 75 miles from the border.

I don't know how many hapless small-time marijuana users get popped at these checkpoints, which are supposedly designed to go after cross-border drug smugglers. I know they nailed Willie Nelson and the rapper Li'l Wayne.

The funny thing is this was in California. Pot is decriminalized. All he would have gotten was a ticket. And they didn't even bother with that.

[WDIM]

5. how did we get to this point?

The idea that questioning authority gives the authority figure the right to physically assault you. That officer needs to be brought up on charges of assault and battery.

[MindPilot]

6. Welcome to the 100-mile Constitution-free zone.

I would probably get a hide if I wrote what I really think needs to happen. Suffice it to say I hope it happens more and more frequently.