In a shocking incident caught on video, Border Patrol agents in California forcefully pulled a man out of his car and drove off with his distressed wife and 4-year-old son simply because he refused to tell them where he was driving to.
The footage, taken from Rick Herbert’s dashboard cam, begins with his son singing songs in the backseat and ends with the child screaming in distress as thug agents rifle through the vehicle.
Driving through the checkpoint 35 miles north of El Centro, east of San Diego, Herbert was stopped and asked “Where are you going today?” to which he replied that he did not have to answer that question.
The border agent then immediately attempted to open the car door, which was locked. He then reached through the window, inside the vehicle and unlocked the door.
“Get your hands out of my vehicle, this is assault!” Herbert cried, asking “What is your reasonable suspicion?”
Herbert was then asked to state his citizenship, to which he replied he is a US citizen.
The agents then asked to look in the trunk for “anything illegal.”
“I do not consent to any searches or seizures,” said Herbert, citing protections under the Fourth Amendment. He then asked the agent several more times to explain what the reasonable suspicion was for asking him to step out of the vehicle.
The agent then grabbed him by the arm and and attempted to pull him out of the car, despite the fact that Herbert was strapped in with a seatbelt.
“Hey, dude, stop, I got to unbuckle my seatbelt first,” Herbert told him. “You’re being recorded, just so you know.”
“I know I am,” replied the agent, declaring “I’m not doing nothing against policy.”
“Yeah you are, I’m going to sue the sh*t out of you.” Herbert told the agent.
The agent then slammed Herbert against the back window and cuffed him, right in full view of his distressed child. Another agent then got into the car and drove it to a different area with Herbert’s distraught family still inside.
The footage becomes difficult to watch when the agent attempts to extract the innocent boy and he cries “no, no, I don’t like you.”
The Border Patrol issued the following statement regarding the incident:
On March 12, 2015, at around 10:54 am, the driver of a Chevrolet Cavalier approached the El Centro Sector Highway 86 checkpoint where a Border Patrol K-9 detection team produced a positive alert to the vehicle for contraband. Because of this alert for contraband, the male driver was directed by agents to the secondary inspection area for a more thorough examination of the car. The man failed to follow the agents directions to drive to secondary and was removed from the vehicle. Agents searched the vehicle and discovered a small testable amount of marijuana under the driver’s seat. The California Highway Patrol was called to the scene where an CHP officer conducted a roadside sobriety test on the driver as a precaution. The driver was eventually released without any charges.
In an email to police watchdog website photographyisnotacrime.com, Herbert verified that he was detained for some time and led to believe that he was being charged, before eventually just being released.
“I was arrested, fingerprinted and forced to sit on a bench inside for over an hour then let outside to do a field sobriety test conducted by CHP and then brought back inside until I was free to go.” Herbert writes.
“I was also told I was being arrested for a ‘testable amount of Marijuana at a federal checkpoint’ there was no Marijuana in our possession. He told me I am being charged and released and that charge would be on my criminal record permanently.” Herbert added.
The incident serves as a reminder of how the rights of everyday Americans are being violated en mass every day.
Using the excuse of attempting to apprehend illegal immigrants, Border Patrol agents have set up a network of internal checkpoints inside the United States. As InfoWars has documented, in some cases the checkpoints are as much as 100-200 miles from the border.
Despite what a Supreme Court ruling says, since the checkpoints are situated far away from the Mexican border, they are clearly a violation of the Fourth Amendment, which protects, “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” Of course, the Supreme Court also once ruled that black people in America were slaves.
The ACLU has dubbed the area in which the checkpoints have been positioned as the “Constitution-free Zone,” noting that 2 out of 3 Americans live within this buffer zone – around 190 million people in total.
There is no law that says refusing to comply with Border agents and/or police at such checkpoints gives probable cause to search an individual’s vehicle. It certainly does not provide probable cause for agents to force their way into vehicles, particularly if the occupants are not being aggressive or confrontational in any way.
This is just the latest in a series of confrontations caught on video showing Americans standing up to the checkpoints.
Being routinely stopped at a permanent checkpoint close to 200 miles away from the border by Homeland Security agents, one freedom loving American decided enough was enough recently and stood up to them on video. The self declared “free roamer” was laughed at by the agents before being sent on his way.
Last year, a man in Texas was dragged from his vehicle by border patrol agents who smashed through his window after he refused to answer their questions at a checkpoint more than 50 miles away from the Southern border.
(The exchange with the agents begins at around 6 mins into the video)
Now this guy will probably end up suing the border patrol, if he wants to go through yet another hassle (dealing with lawyers). Likely he will just want to put it behind himself and move on. Most people do this, as they have lives to live. That is part of the problem with the government legal system, our lives have to come to a stop in order to get “justice”. A day away from work, your kids etc. A government agent, that IS his life, its just another day (at our expense).
If the victim does go forward, he may get a “settlement” of some sort, paid for by innocent taxpayers, as these agents won’t be paying from their own pockets. They won’t miss one day of work for this incident and of course won’t face criminal charges. Nor will their bosses require they change their tactics, since the bosses are the ones having them do these tactics in the first place.
As part of that “settlement” the victim likely will be prohibited from further badmouthing of the border patrol. If he speaks up, that settlement will go into default and he loses again. So even when you win you lose.
That is one of the biggest problems we face as people. Government agents can do what they do all day long, 24/7 at our expense. That is their “job” in fact. They will be defended by taxpayer funded lawyers, at unlimited expense.
We as those that disagree with this form of “government” are very limited in our response to the taking of our freedom. We have to pay “lawyers” at our expense to sue for the rights we should have as free men. Our free speech is muzzled even when we “win”.
And I haven’t even touched on the evilness of border checkpoints, no where near a border!