Two More Drug War Deaths -- Border Patrol Involved in Both

Submitted by Phillip Smith on (Issue #754)
Consequences of Prohibition

A San Diego housewife and an Arizona Border Patrol agent were both killed in recent separate incidents involving drug law enforcement. Housewife Valeria Tachiquin-Alvarado and Border Patrol agent Nicholas Ivie become the 48th and 49th persons to die in US domestic drug law enforcement operations so far this year.

[image:1 align:right]Tachiquin-Alvarado, a 32-year-old mother of five and a US citizen, was shot and killed September 31 by an as yet unidentified Border Patrol agent as she attempted to leave the scene of a raid, according to Chula Vista police, who are investigating the killing. She was on probation for a 2011 drug conviction at the time.

The fatal encounter began when a group of plain clothes Border Patrol agents went to an apartment to arrest a previously deported felon at an apartment where there had been prior complaints of drug activity. Tachiquin-Alvarado answered the door, was questioned and released, then walked to her car nearby.

Other Border Patrol agents then "contacted" her as she prepared to drive away. She then allegedly pulled away from the curb, striking one of the agents. The agents then told her she was under arrest for vehicular assault and tried to grab her car keys from the ignition. But Tachiquin-Alvarado instead pulled away, striking the first agent again and leaving him perched on the hood of her car.

She drove off at speeds of around 25 mph as the agent yelled at her to stop the car. After driving about 200 yards, Tachiquin-Alvarado began to make a turn, and the agent on her hood drew his gun and fired repeatedly into the windshield, killing her.

Police said they have witnesses to confirm their version, but other witnesses gave a different account.

"I just witnessed the officer walking toward the female's car. She was backing up and then he discharged, his weapon started firing," said Prince Watson, a witness.

Chula Vista police are continuing to investigate and will forward the results to the District Attorney's Office for a ruling on whether the shooting was justified. But Tachiquin-Alvarado's family is not waiting for the investigation to be completed. They held a tearful news conference and candlelight vigil near the scene of the shooting last Monday, and a family attorney has vowed that a civil suit will be filed.

Oh, and the guy the Border Patrol was looking for? They didn't find him.

Then, in the pre-dawn hours last Tuesday, Border Patrol Agent Ivie was shot and killed and a second agent wounded in what federal investigators are now calling a friendly fire incident. According to the FBI, which is investigating the case, Ivie and other agents responded to a tripped sensor that indicated movement in a remote border area "described as a drug-trafficking corridor used by the Sinaloa cartel to smuggle marijuana and other drugs into the US."

Three agents approached the area of the tripped sensor from different directions, perhaps without knowing the others were so close, lost radio contact with each other, then "Ivie got spooked and started to shoot" and "another agent shot back and those bullets killed Ivie," according to an Arizona law enforcement source.

The FBI would only go as far saying there were "strong preliminary indications" that Ivie's death and the wounding of the other agent were "the result of an accidental shooting involving only the agents."

But Arizona law enforcement sources said there was no evidence of illegal border crossers in the area, that the motion sensors sometimes give false indications, and that shell casings on the scene suggested a "blue on blue, friendly-fire event."

Permission to Reprint: This content is licensed under a modified Creative Commons Attribution license. Content of a purely educational nature in Drug War Chronicle appear courtesy of DRCNet Foundation, unless otherwise noted.

Comments

Anonymouse777 (not verified)

 

"ASIA FOR THE ASIANS, AFRICA FOR THE AFRICANS, WHITE COUNTRIES FOR EVERYBODY!"
 
Everybody says there is this RACE problem. Everybody says this RACE problem will be solved when the third world pours into EVERY white country and ONLY into white countries.
 
The Netherlands and Belgium are just as crowded as Japan or Taiwan, but nobody says Japan or Taiwan will solve this RACE problem by bringing in millions of third worlders and quote assimilating unquote with them.
 
Everybody says the final solution to this RACE problem is for EVERY white country and ONLY white countries to “assimilate,” i.e., intermarry, with all those non-whites.
 
What if I said there was this RACE problem and this RACE problem would be solved only if hundreds of millions of non-blacks were brought into EVERY black country and ONLY into black countries?
 
How long would it take anyone to realize I’m not talking about a RACE problem. I am talking about the final solution to the BLACK problem?
 
And how long would it take any sane black man to notice this and what kind of psycho black man wouldn’t object to this?
 
But if I tell that obvious truth about the ongoing program of genocide against my race, the white race, Liberals and respectable conservatives agree that I am a naziwhowantstokillsixmillionjews.
 
They say they are anti-racist. What they are is anti-white.
 
Anti-racist is a code word for anti-white.
Tue, 10/09/2012 - 2:59pm Permalink
primus (not verified)

In reply to by Anonymouse777 (not verified)

The problem is people who want to subdivide the human race into subsets.  This leads to tribalism of the worst kind, and a we-they attitude.  There is no 'white' race, no 'black' race, no 'yellow' race etc. There is just one race, the human race.  It matters not the colour of your skin, it is what is in your heart and your mind that tells the story.  It is the internal, not the external which recommends a person.  You who worry endlessly about whether there is 'one drop' of non-white blood in someone's veins are the problem, we should give you an island and let you live apart together, while the rest of us get on with being human beings.

Tue, 10/09/2012 - 5:08pm Permalink

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Source URL: https://stopthedrugwar.org/chronicle/2012/oct/08/two_more_drug_war_deaths_border