[billt]

What find almost laughable is when Bush decided to put the Guard on the Border, they were unarmed! Talk about nonsense. Bill T.

[troy2000]

Quote:       Originally Posted by billt

What find almost laughable is when Bush decided to put the Guard on the Border, they were unarmed! Talk about nonsense. Bill T.

Supposedly, they were supposed to take over other miscellaneous duties to free up the border agents to do more patrolling, since the agents are the professionals.

But I've read at least one account of the Guard coming face-to-face with an armed party, and falling back. Were they patrolling at the time, or doing something else along the border?

[Midas]

This is ludicrous

[Rave]

Saw on the news that,after 13 years,the homeland security is planning on filling in a tunnel under the Mexican border.

[Rufus Rhastus J]

Gee, i hope those illegals won't be inconvenienced too much.

[frozentorso]

I live here and have followed the case. The van bumped Hernandez as it drove off. If the van had been coming at hernandez, he would have been justified in shooting to protect his life. The problem is the van was leaving the scene and Hernandez was in NO LONGER IN DANGER, and under these conditions officers are forbidden to fire their weapons. He made a poor decision on the spur of the moment, but should of been reprimanded or fired at most. I probably would have emptied my mag into the van, and pretty soon you'll see the good folks of South Texas take the law into their own hands.

[troy2000]

Quote:       Originally Posted by frozentorso

I live here and have followed the case. The van bumped Hernandez as it drove off. If the van had been coming at hernandez, he would have been justified in shooting to protect his life. The problem is the van was leaving the scene and Hernandez was in NO LONGER IN DANGER, and under these conditions officers are forbidden to fire their weapons. He made a poor decision on the spur of the moment, but should of been reprimanded or fired at most. I probably would have emptied my mag into the van, and pretty soon you'll see the good folks of South Texas take the law into their own hands.

He takes what should have been disciplinary matters, and literally makes federal cases out of them. And he's apparently willing to give the store away to any "victim" who'll testify against an LEO or Border Agent, no matter what said victim might be guilty of himself.

I wish he showed the same zeal when it comes to prosecuting drug-runners and coyotes...

Someone told me Hernandez' defense was that he thought they were putting it in reverse and coming back at him. I haven't looked his case up; is it true he claimed that, and if so could it hold water?

[Rave]

Hold water? Our border and our security remind me of a seive,and a seive won't hold water!

[Rufus Rhastus J]

these poor unfortunates.

[frozentorso]

I havent heard that one. I heard they hauled !!!!!, the mirror on the drivers side clipped him, he drew and shot, and they jumped a curb trying to skeedaddle. Backing up was never mentioned. He clearly screwed up, but it was taken much to far. Understand, we have a very large population of illegal immigrants here. Some local economies depend on them. Others are sympathetic to them. Some want them to re-take Texas. Theres never a shortage of agendas, accept the correct one.

[Calvin]

The people involved in the prosecution of this officer should spend a week doing Hernandez's job. When a vehicle takes off and part of the vehicle makes contact with you, that's a deadly threat. What would have happened had the mirror "clipped" the officer and he fell backwards into the lane of traffic and got hit? How do you know the perp isn't going to try to back up on you? There's a ton of things to consider in such a situation and, unfortuantely, there's only about 1 second to process what is going on.
I hate armchair quarterbacking. You get asked why you didn't do it "this" way and you give an answer. The retort is you should have done it "that" way. It's so much easier to analyze after the incident is over and from the safety of a plush office.
Sorry, but I can empathize with this officer and I feel he's been wrongly accused. I, personally, feel he did the right thing. It's funny, though. The shots went into the vehicle and one of the (illegal) occupants suffered a hit from fragments. No innocent bystanders were hit and all the rounds were accounted for. (Good shooting, if you ask me.) Like Troy said, why has it gone from administrative to legal?

[Oxford]

I'm with you on your stand, Calvin. Second guessing in a calm environment isn't the luxury the LEO had when he made his on the spot decision. We've all had incidents which required immediate decisions...and maybe later second guessed ourselves how we might have done something differently, if we could do it over.

But...as you stated, a perp caused the LEO to take action, and a stray round fired was still the result of the perp's action. I place no blame on the officer.

[troy2000]

Speech given by Congressman Ted Poe before the House in Washington, DC - January 10, 2007

Deputy Gilmer Hernandez

Mr. Speaker, in the small border town of Rocksprings, Texas, where drug smugglers and human smugglers sneak across the Rio Grande into America, lone Deputy Sheriff Gilmer Hernandez was on patrol. In the stillness of the vast night, a speeding Suburban runs a red light. Deputy Hernandez, 25, stops the vehicle, but suddenly, without warning, the vehicle takes off. Deputy Hernandez says the vehicle tried to run him down. The lawman fires several shots, one of which shoots out the rear tire, just like in the movies.

The vehicle stops, and eight or nine illegals jump out and take off running into the sagebrush. One illegal had a minor injury from a bullet. The U.S. Government rounds up six or seven of the illegals and, guess what, prosecutes Deputy Hernandez, claiming he recklessly discharged his firearm and uses the illegals as witnesses against the lawman during a trial.

Citizens of his town are mad. One said, ``Our deputy's in jail for doing his job.''

Mr. Speaker, another example of how the Federal Government is more concerned about people illegally invading America than it is about the men who protect America. Once again, our government is on the wrong side of the border war.

And that's just the way it is.

[Rave]

"Big business(money) trumps everything."
We are slideing ever faster down the slippery slope.

[Rufus Rhastus J]

I agree with Troy...."Once again, the government is on the wrong side of the border war." I'm wondering, does Rave's comments have the "telling" answer as to why?

[billt]

The Republicans want to exploit the cheap labor. The Democrats want to "import poverty" to assure them the votes to create big government. The only people who want the illegal invasion stopped are the citizens. And they don't count for much these days. Bill T.

[Rave]

Let's have a big amen for that!

[SKS NOOB]

We could get all the people we can and stand in 24 hr shifts and watch the fence. I would like to see them stop an army of "concerned citizens" from doin the job the border police seem to be provented from doing. BUT I'm thinking that it would scare the border police more than the illegal immagrants, though. Just a temptaion. Not something we could do, I think.

[frozentorso]

I think you guys are missing the point. His life was no longer in danger. Police cant just start shooting at fleeing vehicles. He broke the rules! But I do believe it was blown out of proportion for political reasons. As I stated earlier, he should have reprimanded or fired, not jailed.

I believe the Minutemen are still active on the Texas border.

[Rufus Rhastus J]

Ditto that BillT