“I’ve been in combat and I’ve never been hurt that bad in my life,” states Larry Kirschenman, a 75-yer-old Vietnam veteran who served 22 years and received medals for valor, in speaking about how US border agents physically brutalized him for asking a simple question about his rights.
“They’re not trying to restrain me, they’re trying to hurt me.”
“Ever since then, I’ve realized that our country is not nearly as free and democratic like we might think.”
This man still suffers from nightmares and has continuous pains in his hands from the incident, stating he can’t even pick up a pencil.
He filed a complaint with U.S. Customs and Border Protection but has never gotten an answer.
The government treats our borders like Constitution-free zones and this is the result…where our most beloved American brothers and sisters who gave their all for our country can be brutalized by thugs.
When I got to the border crossing where customs officers checked my passport, I was told to pull over into what’s called secondary – a parking area where they search vehicles for contraband. The agent there took my keys and in a gruff voice ordered me to get out of my truck, put my hands on the vehicle, and said he was going to search me. I did exactly as he said, then turned and asked him, in a calm and polite voice, whether he needed some kind of probable cause to search me. He answered “No I don’t!” Then he grabbed me in an arm lock, slammed a pair of handcuffs down on my wrists hard enough to split the skin, and pushed my wrists up behind my neck so far that my shoulders started to go out of joint. It hurt so badly I started screaming “Please stop, please stop, you’re hurting me.” I wasn’t resisting at all, but he just kept on while I cried out in pain.
Next the officer marched me to a holding cell. There he picked me up by the seat of my pants and slammed my head onto the tile floor. I blacked out for a moment, then I woke up with a head wound that had peeled a chunk of skin off the top of my head. I was still bleeding when an officer handcuffed me to the side of a bench so tightly that I couldn’t even stand up. And they kept on questioning me, “Why do you come here so often? What are you doing over there?”
I was scared and in pain. When my chest started hurting, I thought I was having a heart attack. I pleaded with the officers to call an ambulance. They finally said they would, but only if I agreed to pay the hospital bill, which I did. The emergency room doctor was so incensed at what happened to me that he called the Nogales city police. The police officer who came to the hospital dutifully took a report and photos of my injuries but told me he had “no authority” down at the border.
I never thought an innocent person, an American citizen, would be beaten up by law enforcement officers, and for no reason. When I asked the officer at the border what cause he had to search me, I didn’t know what the rules were. Since then I’ve been shocked to learn that some of our constitutional protections don’t apply in the same way at the border. CBP officers can search you at a border crossing without any suspicion of wrongdoing and without your consent. And if you live within 25 miles of the border, they can come onto your property without your permission.
UNBELIEVABLE. I am speechless. God Bless you and I hope you get some kind of restitution.
This kind of thing never happened until Obama got into office. He has ruined our country. I’m praying for our country to survive until he is gone. I’m so sorry that such a thing happened to this man and wish him well!!
You are kidding right ? Moron
Sorry Sam, but this went on long before Obama was in office. I cross the border into Calif all the time and as with any government agency, it just depends on the mood of the border agent. I am sorry this happened to this vet but don’t blame the current president.
You got to be kidding me. Another BO lover not taking responsibility for what happens under his watch. Our government did lots of bad things before BO and the president must take responsibility but this happened under BO….belly up to the bar and take responsibility!
LARRY, I AM SO SORRY FOR WHAT HAS HAPPEN TO YOU…I HOPE YOU WILL CONTACT THE ACLJ…I REALIZE YOU HAVE A PETITION WITH THE ACLU, HOWEVER IT WOULD BE TO YOUR BENEFIT TO HAVE BOTH OF THEM ON THIS CASE. I WILL BE PRAYING FOR YOU , GOD BLESS YOU AND THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE!
time to stand up against any and all gastappo tactics which we are seeing as orders from high up!
I feel so sorry and angry for this mans pain and what has happened to him. Our law enforcement officers seem to be getting more brutal every day… even in small towns. Authority has been given to a lot of wrong people in this country in the last several years. This shouldn’t have happened to an American citizen for no reason… especially a Veteran that served 22 years for his country. God Bless this man and hopefully something will be done to ease his pain.
May that officer meet the same fate somewhere.
This American citizen should not have been treated like an illegal , and then ignored by the bureau where the ass hole worked. He should have been charged withe serveral charges that I can think of, tried and fired for his job.
People are such fools and completely ignorant of the conditions that people are living under. If anyone wants to demand his/her Constitutional Rights like “innocent until proven guilty” or any other Right you better have enough money to tingle an attorney into action and pray that the lawyer doesn’t play with you or sell you out until you have been squeezed of all your funds. And for those that have been living with their head in the sand, oblivious to the suffering of others, police officers, government oversight agencies and the judicial system also do not respect the Constitutional Rights of the people. Maybe we all are facing such tyrannical misery because we have earned such, as was so sensible, eloquently and brilliantly voiced and foretold by President Lincoln: “Those who deny freedom to others, deserve it not for themselves; and, under a just God, can not long retain it.”
a quote worth remembering. thank u
As soon as WE are all weak, down to our knees & to our last penny, that’s when China rule us ALL! F.cking political system screw us all!
The US Border Patrols had better load up or they will be left over the border for the Drug Cartel for Obama!!
Take pictures of these thugs so we can post them ( these thugs are not Americans )