Tucson man shot by border officer while driving to Mexico files suit

A Tucson man who was shot in the head by a U.S. customs officer while driving to Mexico in 2019 filed a federal civil rights complaint last week against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Angel Emmanuel Mendivil Perez, an American citizen who turns 23 this month, remains disabled due to his injury after the shooting of the unidentified policeman two years ago, according to his Tucson lawyer, Bill Risner.

“He can now walk with a cane,” said Risner. “This is a victory.”

US Customs and Border Protection declined to comment. The agency didn’t say much about the incident, frustrating Risner and his client. In addition to not disclosing the policeman’s name, CBP did not say exactly where the incident occurred – a fact that could be crucial in the case.

The incident began around 7:00 pm on February 7, 2019, on one of the lanes south of the DeConcini Crossing port of entry in Nogales, Arizona. Customs officials “alerted” to the small brown truck that Mendivil Perez drove, which displayed the license plate of a different vehicle, said a CBP post published on its website a few days later.

While the police questioned Mendivil Perez, “the driver accelerated the vehicle towards Mexico. At this point, the officer unloaded his firearm, ”according to CBP.

A bullet went through the rear window of the truck and hit Perez in the head. The truck advanced “a few meters” in Mexico before hitting a cement barrier. Mendivil Perez was taken to a Mexican hospital before being flown to Tucson for surgery. He remembers not long after picking up the groceries he intended to take to his pregnant girlfriend – now his wife – in Nogales, Sonora, Risner said.

The passenger, reported to be a 17-year-old boy, left unscathed. Strangely, Tucson’s KOLD-TV and Arizona Daily Star reported the rumor that Arturo Garino, the mayor of Nogales, was informed that Mendivil Perez may have tried to run over or hit the agent with the pickup before being shot. Melissa Egan of KOLD told viewers in a Facebook video at the time that another city official had given Garino the information. Garino’s office did not respond to a message from Phoenix New Times on Friday. CBP did not make that claim, nor did it say in the brief online summary that someone in the truck was armed. Since then, the office has not released further details about the case.

The federal complaint filed on February 4 alleges that the unknown CBP officer or Border Patrol agent used lethal force in an excessive and unreasonable manner “without legal justification”, adding that “at the time of the shooting, the defendants were in no danger of injury. by Mr. Mendivil. “

Mendivil Perez’s Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights have been violated, the complaints say, and he is seeking compensation for the violations or, alternatively, compensation under the Federal Tort Claim Act, plus attorney fees. Mendivil Perez was not found and did not return the message left by Risner.

The lawyer said that one of the reasons for the shooting may simply be that the police do not think the rules apply to them.

“They are idiots. They go to an idiot school,” he said. He has crossed the border for 60 years and has a “deep history in it”.

Nogales officers are “just idiots,” said Risner. “They’re insolent. Just fucking idiots.”