It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
A 21 year old SUNY Canton criminal justice student who was detained and tased at a Border Patrol checkpoint Thursday says she is the victim of "police brutality." "They overstepped their boundaries. They put on a badge and they have a gun and they think they're hot sh*t," said Jessica Cooke of Tuck Road, Ogdensburg.
Cooke says the incident unfolded after she was stopped at a checkpoint and ordered to open the trunk of her car. Cooke captured much of the incident on her cell phone camera. You can watch it at the bottom of this story. When she refused, she says she was ordered to pull off the highway and told a K-9 was on it's way to search her vehicle.
When she exited her vehicle questioning the federal agents actions and not complying, Cooke told 7 News Reporter John Friot a male agent "got in my face." She said "he threatened me and said he would move me if I didn't move." Cooke said the make agent "pushed me back into the side of my car and I pushed back, it was a shoving match before he threw me to the ground and had the female agent tase me in the lower back".
originally posted by: wondering5740
Why didn't she just let them see her trunk? I travel around that area frequently for work and have a lawyer friend that way and everyone knows tons of drugs cross there. If your location is correct you know this also. Just because someone chooses to be non-compliant and confrontational..and coincidentally whip their phone out in time to record themselves does not grant them victim status.
originally posted by: Annee
I really hate passing through 3 check points driving from AZ TO CA.
BUT. the Border Patrol has a job to do. They don't need this nonsense.
US Border Checkpoints
Be aware that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents — which are part of the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) — are permitted to search you and your belongings at the U.S. border without probable cause or a search warrant. So anytime you cross the border, you consent to a search.
CBP may generally stop and search the property of anyone entering or exiting the U.S. If agents have reasonable suspicion to believe you’re concealing contraband, they may search your body using pat-down, strip, body cavity, or involuntary x-ray searches.
After the K-9 found nothing in her car, Cooke said she was told she would be taken to U.S. Customs.
originally posted by: dianajune
originally posted by: Annee
I really hate passing through 3 check points driving from AZ TO CA.
BUT. the Border Patrol has a job to do. They don't need this nonsense.
And We the People have the right to enjoy our lives without being subject to police brutality.
originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: dianajune
That's where you're wrong. They're Border Patrol, not police. She wasn't pulled over "on a hunch", she was stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint. They can't detain you for an extended period of time, but they can have a drug dog check your car if they feel they have a reasonable suspicion, which includes acting nervous.
originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Annee
We go through them in Texas and Arizona all the time. It's really simple. "US Citizen?" "Yes Sir." "Have a nice day." I've never once had a problem with any checkpoint, just by being polite and respectful. We've had to go through secondary once.
originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Annee
It isn't illegal to be an asshole to cops/feds.
My main issue with the whole thing is how he went hands on with here cause she wouldn't stand where he wanted her to but she catches the assault?
The whole if you don't have anything to hide you have nothing to worry about is not the way things should be.
She was challenging them.
originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Annee
She was challenging them.
Is that illegal?
Fine to call it stupid and unnecessary, I some what agree.
But does that mean that the guy gets to take it to a physical level?
And then turn around and charge her for assault when he went hands on first?