Mexicans protest death of migrant in U.S. custody

June 4, 2010
CNN

Mexico City, Mexico (CNN) -- About 5,000 Mexican motorists along the border near San Diego, California, protested the death of an illegal immigrant last week while in the custody of U.S. border agents, the Notimex news agency reported.

The San Diego police department is investigating Anastacio Hernandez Rojas' death, which the medical examiner ruled a homicide.

Hernandez was detained, beaten and shocked with a Taser on May 28, San Diego police said, and died three days later in a Chula Vista, California, hospital.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon issued a statement Thursday saying his government will use all diplomatic means to make sure all the details come to light.

The protest began with about 450 demonstrators who carried signs as they marched on a pedestrian bridge near the border, Notimex said. Thousands of drivers who were waiting to cross the border into the United States started to sound their horns in unison, the government-funded news agency said.

The motorists occupied 10 lanes on two highways for more than a mile, Notimex said, calling the event unprecedented.

Hernandez died of cardiac arrest, but methamphetamine abuse and hypertension were also contributing factors, an autopsy found.

The altercation occurred at the San Ysidro Port of Entry when U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents were trying to deport Hernandez to Mexico, San Diego and federal authorities said. Hernandez became combative, the officials said, and force was used to restrain him.

"One of the agents used a baton to administer to the subject to get him to stop fighting," said San Diego homicide Capt. Jim Collins. "When that was not successful, they used the Taser."

Hernandez stopped breathing shortly after the Taser was used, San Diego police said in a statement May 29.

Notimex said the man was brain dead and doctors proposed disconnecting him from life support.

He died Monday afternoon at Sharp Chula Vista Medical Center, a hospital spokeswoman and police said.

Amnesty International Calls for Restrictions on Taser Use by U.S. Border Police After Death of Mexican Migrant Man

NEW YORK, June 3 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Amnesty International is calling for a review of the U.S. border patrol's policy on use of electro-shock weapons following the death of a Mexican national, Anastasio Hernandez, who was tasered. The human rights organization also demanded a full, impartial investigation of the facts in this case, with the results -- including the autopsy findings -- made public as soon as possible.

The organization is also calling for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency to either suspend using Tasers or limit their use to situations where officers are faced with an immediate threat of death or serious injury that cannot be contained through lesser means.

According to police sources, Hernandez was detained last Friday after re-entering the United States illegally over the Mexican border. He reportedly had been deported two months earlier. Customs and Border Patrol police reportedly hit him with a baton and used a Taser gun on him when he became "combative" as they tried to deport him to Mexico at the San Ysidro border crossing in California. He reportedly stopped breathing shortly after being tasered and was pronounced brain dead in hospital some 21 hours later; he was removed from a life support machine on Monday.

The San Diego medical examiner announced on Wednesday that he died of a heart attack, with signs of methamphetamine abuse and high blood pressure contributing factors; the manner of death was ruled a homicide. The amount of methamphetamine in his system was not reported.

While Amnesty International does not have full details of the incident, which remains under investigation by the U.S. authorities, the organization is concerned by allegations that police resorted to unnecessary levels of force.

Amnesty International has serious concerns about the safety of electro-shock weapons such as Tasers, and considers them to be potentially lethal as well as open to abuse. The organization is calling for such weapons to be strictly regulated and used only in situations where they are necessary to protect life and avoid the use of firearms.

Since 2001, more than 400 people have died in the United States after being shocked with police Tasers. Although coroners have attributed most deaths to other causes, the Taser has been cited as a cause or contributing factor in more than 50 deaths. In many of these cases -- like that of Anastasio Hernandez -- the deceased stopped breathing shortly after being shocked. There are other cases where the cause of death remains unclear.

Background

Although some studies have found the risk of injury from Tasers and similar weapons to be generally low in healthy adults, there is concern that some individuals may be particularly vulnerable to adverse reactions from the shocks, for example, people suffering from underlying heart problems or being of small build. There is also concern by some medical professionals that the electro-shocks may contribute to cardiac or respiratory problems in people already compromised by police struggle, stress or drug abuse.

Amnesty International is a Nobel Peace Prize-winning grassroots activist organization with more than 2.2 million supporters, activists and volunteers in more than 150 countries campaigning for human rights worldwide. The organization investigates and exposes abuses, educates and mobilizes the public, and works to protect people wherever justice, freedom, truth and dignity are denied.

Please visit www.amnestyusa.org for more information.

Mexican citizen dies at US border after he is tasered

June 3, 1010- Accorrding to news reports, Mr. Hernandez was removed from a life support machine on Monday.

May 31, 2010: A report today says that Anastasio Hernandez, 42, has been brain dead in a hospital since Friday.

May 29, 2010
San Diego News Network

A 32-year-old Mexican national was in critical condition Saturday and was not expected to survive after being shot with a stun gun in a fight with federal agents at the San Ysidro [California] border crossing, authorities said.

The scuffle took place about 9:15 p.m. Friday at the U.S. Border Patrol facility at the port of entry, said San Diego police Capt. Jim Collins.

Collins said Border Patrol agents arrested the man and his brother on Otay Mountain about two hours earlier on suspicion of entering the United States illegally.

Agents brought the men to the San Ysidro station for processing. The 32-year-old signed paperwork accepting his voluntary return to Mexico and his brother was to be returned at a later time, Collins said.

At the Border Patrol station gate leading to Mexico, agents removed the man’s handcuffs and he became violent, Collins said.

“The agents and the subject all fell to the ground during the fight and the agents radioed for assistance,” Collins said in a prepared statement.

He said Customs and Border Protection agents joined the struggle and one CBP agent fired a Taser at the man to subdue him.

A short time later, Collins said, the man stopped breathing. Agents began CPR and called paramedics. He was taken to a hospital in critical condition.

“It became clear today that the man is not expected to survive, so that’s why we were called in at 12:30 p.m.,” Collins, of the homicide unit, said in a telephone interview. “A lot of people get Tasered with no real ill effects. He could have had a pre-existing medical condition.”

It is routine for the San Diego homicide squad to investigate shootings or deaths involving any law enforcement personnel within the city.

Collins said the man’s name, and that of his brother, is being withheld until their family is notified. The names of the agents involved also were withheld.