This has to stop
Look at the faces of the men as they pull the man from the vehicle or the nasty tone of the one ordering the woman
Not one person in that posse could contain their inner hatred, rage or need to physically violate another
This is not the America I grew up in
๐จBREAKING: Border Patrol agents violently pulled a U.S. citizen PASSENGER from a vehicle, slamming him to the groundโฆ
Then shouted that he had a gun, even though he didnโt.
In Tucson, Arizona, state troopers pulled over a vehicle. While they were stopped on the side of the road, the state trooper called Border Patrol because the PASSENGER appeared to be Hispanic.
When Border Patrol arrived, the situation immediately escalated to agents smashed both passenger-side windows.
One agent tried to hit the phone out of the driverโs hand, who was recording, as they violently ripped the backseat passenger out of the vehicle, and threw him onto the ground, while multiple agents pin him down.
Then, an agent ordered the driver out of the vehicle.
She responded, โI didnโt do anything.โ
The agent replied, โStep out or you are going to get tackled.โ
At that point, at least three agents already had the passenger pinned, with his hands behind his back, when another agent suddenly yelled, โGun!โ
A fourth agent responded, โHe has a gun?โ
The driver immediately yells back, โNO! He has NO gun. WE HAVE NO WEAPONS!โ
The agent, closest to the car, was startled by this, appearing to forget the driver was still insideโฆ and filming.
Thatโs when he reached into the vehicle, grabbed her phone, threw it from her hand, and attempted to pull her out of the car.
There is a lot going on in this video, so letโs break this downโฆ
Firstโฆ you donโt get to detain people based on how they look. The Fourth Amendment requires individualized, reasonable suspicion. Not โhe looked Hispanic.โ
Secondโฆ a passenger, during a traffic stop, is not automatically required to identify themselves, or hand over ID. Law enforcement needs a lawful basisโฆ like reasonable suspicion that that specific person committed a crimeโฆ to demand identification.
Thirdโฆ even when someone is lawfully detained, they are only required to comply with lawful orders tied to THAT detention. A passenger doesnโt lose constitutional protections just because someone else was pulled over, while driving.
Fourthโฆ the First Amendment protects the right to record law enforcement, in public, while theyโre doing their job. Knocking a phone away, or throwing it because someone is filming, is violating that constitutional right.
And finally, any use of forceโฆ breaking windows, pulling someone out of a car, and restraining themโฆ has to be objectively reasonable under the Fourth Amendment. That requires specific, articulable facts, not assumptions about identity.
This wasnโt a checkpoint.
It wasnโt a border stop.
This was a traffic stop where a PASSENGER became the target because of how he looked.
And if thatโs enough to trigger federal agents breaking windows, and violently pulling U.S. citizens out of carsโฆ then every single person should be demanding answers, and accountability.
Because this couldโve ended with another U.S. citizen deadโฆ
And next time, that U.S. citizen could be you.
