The two Border Patrol officers, Valerie Baird and Adrian Perallon, encouraged Velazquez to drink the concoction while he was in custody. They claimed they did nothing to encourage him to drink it, but the video shows otherwise.
James Tomsheck, former CBP head of internal affairs, told ABC News that agency protocols were violated by letting the boy drink the liquid meth.
If they truly suspected there was a controlled substance in the bottle,” Tomsheck said, “They should’ve conducted a field test.”
No such field test was conducted to determine what was in the bottle.
The video below shows the boy begin to drink from the bottle, the agents appear to laugh and encouraged him to drink more. After about four sips, he began to go into cardiac arrest and began screaming for help. Records show the agents waited 30 minutes before calling for EMTs. Two hours later, Velazquez was pronounced dead.
Two ranking Democrat members of key House of Representatives committees, Zoe Lofgren of California and Bennie Thompson of Mississippi, have spoken out about the disturbing incident.
Drug smuggling is wrong and is a crime, but this teenage boy did not deserve a death sentence,” said Lofgren, ranking member on the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security. “For CBP officers to inflict a summary death sentence is not only immoral but also illegal.”
A ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Thompson fully agreed with Lofgren.
While there is no excuse for attempting to bring illicit substances into the country, it is absolutely clear from the video that there were numerous failures in judgment and procedure that led to the senseless death of a 16-year-old boy. CBP must ensure that such a tragedy never occurs again.”
Although neither agent was held responsible for the boy’s death, American taxpayers took a hit after the family sued the government.
In March, taxpayers paid for the criminal negligence of the officers and the Velazquez family received $1 million to settle a lawsuit. The border patrol issued no apology, no admission of wrongdoing, and both officers testified that they never received so much as a slap on the wrist for their conduct.”
Clearly, the CBP has protocols that must be followed in order for cases like this to never occur again.
Source: The Free Thought Project
F**e.
The winning is over the top of this circus.
Well ya know, that’s okay because the costumes permit treating other humans that way….
He was trying to get it into the country. He might not have known what it was but honesty is the best policy
Because he was too stupid to know it would kill him?
You two are the pillar of the liberal party!
Why because the kid was an$#%&!@*and drank it? Typical lib!
George D. Jones what?
Good anyone caught smuggling drugs should have to immediately consume what they carry
Give them a medal