Texas Trooper Kills Two Immigrants--Thought They Were Drug Traffickers
Trooper fired from chopper to stop truck, kills 2
CHRISTOPHER SHERMAN, Associated Press, JUAN CARLOS LLORCA, Associated Press
Updated 8:35 p.m., Friday, October 26, 2012
http://www.sfgate.com/news/texas/article/Trooper-fired-from-chopper-to-stop-truck-kills-2-3984508.php
LA JOYA, Texas (AP) - A Texas state trooper who fired on a pickup truck from a helicopter and killed two illegal immigrants during a chase through the desert was trying to disable the vehicle and suspected it was being used to smuggle drugs, authorities said Friday. The disclosure came a day after the incident that left two Guatemalan nationals dead on an isolated gravel road near the town of La Joya, just north of the Mexico border.
State game wardens were the first to encounter the truck Thursday. After the driver refused to stop, they radioed for help and state police responded, according to Parks and Wildlife Department spokesman Mike Cox. When the helicopter with a sharpshooter arrived, officers concluded that the truck appeared to be carrying a "typical covered drug load" on its bed and was travelling at reckless speeds, police said.
After the shots were fired and the truck's tires blown out, the driver lost control and crashed into a ditch. State police said a preliminary investigation revealed that the shots fired from the helicopter struck the vehicle's occupants. Eight people who were in the truck were arrested. At least seven of them were also from Guatemala. No drugs were found.
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An expert on police chases said the decision to fire on the truck was "a reckless act" that served "no legitimate law enforcement purpose."
"In 25 years following police pursuits, I hadn't seen a situation where an officer shot a speeding vehicle from a helicopter," said Geoffrey Alpert, professor of criminology at the University of South Carolina. Such action would be reasonable only if "you know for sure the person driving the car deserves to die and that there are no other occupants."
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