Current Events > Video shows border officers encouraging teen to drink liquid meth. He died.

(+) Yeah! (+)

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/video-shows-border-officers-appeared-encourage-permit-teen/story?id=48903893

A government surveillance video obtained by ABC News has shed new light on a tragic incident at the U.S.-Mexico border, sparking outrage from members of Congress who help oversee U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

The video shows that in 2013 two U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers appeared to encourage, or at least permit, a 16-year-old Mexican high school student to drink from a bottle that tests would later reveal contained concentrated liquid methamphetamine.

The young man, Cruz Velazquez, died within two hours of drinking the substance, but the two officers involved, Valerie Baird and Adrian Perallon, remain on the job today, with no disciplinary action taken against them.

A former head of internal affairs at U.S. Customs and Border Protection, James Tomsheck, told ABC News the two officers violated agency protocols by allowing the young man to drink from the bottle, and that he was told at the time they would be punished.

“If they truly suspected there was a controlled substance in the bottle,” Tomsheck said, “they should've conducted a field test.”

Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a Democrat from California and the ranking member on the House Subcommittee on Immigration and Border Security, condemned the officers’ conduct.

“Drug smuggling is wrong and is a crime, but this teenage boy did not deserve a death sentence,” Lofgren told ABC News. “For CBP officers to inflict a summary death sentence is not only immoral, but also illegal.”

Rep. Bennie Thompson, a Democrat from Missouri and the ranking member of the House Homeland Security Committee, echoed those sentiments.

“In order for CBP officers to prevent smuggling, ensure public safety, and do their difficult job at the border properly, CBP must have the appropriate protocols in place and officers must follow them,” Thompson told ABC News. “While there is no excuse for attempting to bring illicit substances into the country, it is absolutely clear from the video that there were numerous failures in judgement and procedure that led to the senseless death of a 16-year-old boy. CBP must ensure that such a tragedy never occurs again.”

The video, which will air for the first time today on Good Morning America, World News Tonight with David Muir, 20/20 and Nightline as part of a year-long investigation of U.S. Customs and Border Protection conducted by ABC News and The Investigative Fund, shows that Velazquez took four drinks from the bottle, and the officers appear to repeatedly encourage him with hand gestures.

The Velazquez family ultimately filed a civil lawsuit against the officers and the agency, claiming that the officers’ actions led to Cruz’s death.

“What you see, I think, is a basic lack of compassion and decency toward a 16-year-old boy,” said Gene Iredale, the San Diego-based attorney who represented the Velazquez family. “Almost a delight that you would see in children who just pull the wings off flies slowly, a smile when he's being asked to drink something and being put in this position.”

Both officers, who declined through their attorneys to be interviewed by ABC News, denied asking Velazquez to drink from the bottle, and the official report called the incident an “accident.” Officer Perallon claimed Velazquez “volunteered” to take a drink.

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didn't this happen a long time ago?
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

didn't this happen a long time ago?

Very old news indeed.

Shame on tc.
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Giant_Aspirin posted...

didn't this happen a long time ago?

The video came out today, the incident was in 2013.
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Antifar posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

didn't this happen a long time ago?

The video came out today, the incident was in 2013.

ah. i didn't think there was any question about whether they encouraged him to drink it. oh well, now there's definitely no question.

i wonder if they'll face any discipline.
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Shadowstrike007 posted...

Giant_Aspirin posted...

didn't this happen a long time ago?

Very old news indeed.

Shame on tc.

It happened in 2013 but the video has been released now. Both officers denied it. The fact that they remained on the job for this long is disgusting.

He volunteered to drink
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Not surprised.
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So the kid knew hardcore drugs were in the bottles and he continued to drink it?

That's about all I'll say on this subject.
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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

So the kid knew hardcore drugs were in the bottles and he continued to drink it?

That's about all I'll say on this subject.

"Hey we have concerns about what may be in this bottle...let's convince him to drink it!", should NEVER be procedure. That shouldn't ever happen.

Meh

They didn't order him to do anything. Sounds like a pretty standard "oh, that's not what it obviously is? Then show us." And then smiles because he actually fucking did it

Of course, this was a kid. And the stakes were a lot higher. Calling it negligence
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charge them with negligent homicide
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whitewimmin posted...

The Velazquez family ultimately filed a civil lawsuit against the officers and the agency, claiming that the officers’ actions led to Cruz’s death.

He did by trying to smuggle drugs
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You have to be pretty stupid to drink meth.

I've never heard of liquid meth. That's got to be a horrible death.
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TheVipaGTS posted...

gatorsPENSbucs posted...

So the kid knew hardcore drugs were in the bottles and he continued to drink it?

That's about all I'll say on this subject.

"Hey we have concerns about what may be in this bottle...let's convince him to drink it!", should NEVER be procedure. That shouldn't ever happen.

The video I watched didn't have any volume with the encounter, if there's another video out there I'll gladly watch it.

The kid willingly tried to smuggle drugs, how many times who knows, and willingly drank death. Sometimes you cant put all of the blame on the "bad" guys.
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Fair, next
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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

TheVipaGTS posted...

gatorsPENSbucs posted...

So the kid knew hardcore drugs were in the bottles and he continued to drink it?

That's about all I'll say on this subject.

"Hey we have concerns about what may be in this bottle...let's convince him to drink it!", should NEVER be procedure. That shouldn't ever happen.

The video I watched didn't have any volume with the encounter, if there's another video out there I'll gladly watch it.

You know what I meant. That isn't a direct quote of anything. They had suspicions about what was in the bottle. He claimed it was something else. They asked him to drink it to prove it then laughed about it. No matter that the case is that should NEVER be procedure and if you support that I don't know what to say.

TheVipaGTS posted...

gatorsPENSbucs posted...

So the kid knew hardcore drugs were in the bottles and he continued to drink it?

That's about all I'll say on this subject.

"Hey we have concerns about what may be in this bottle...let's convince him to drink it!", should NEVER be procedure. That shouldn't ever happen.

Maybe they didn't think a moron would actually drink a poisonous chemical?

^ bingo.
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gatorsPENSbucs posted...

^ bingo.

That still doesn't make it ok. You can't do shit like that in a position of authority. If a boss of a company asked an employee to give him a BJ for a minor raise would you be ok with his defense being "well I didn't think she would actually do it!"...

Is there any transcript or something? Or are we just going to guess at what the conversation was?

TheVipaGTS posted...

gatorsPENSbucs posted...

^ bingo.

That still doesn't make it ok. You can't do shit like that in a position of authority. If a boss of a company asked an employee to give him a BJ for a minor raise would you be ok with his defense being "well I didn't think she would actually do it!"...

Terrible analogy.

Itd be like if the boss told his employee to jump out the fifth story window if he wanted a raise.

SSJ-Spiderman posted...

TheVipaGTS posted...

gatorsPENSbucs posted...

^ bingo.

That still doesn't make it ok. You can't do shit like that in a position of authority. If a boss of a company asked an employee to give him a BJ for a minor raise would you be ok with his defense being "well I didn't think she would actually do it!"...

Terrible analogy.

Itd be like if the boss told his employee to jump out the fifth story window if he wanted a raise.

And neither is ok. Just because "omg he was crazy enough to do it lol!" Doesn't mean a person with authority is justified in ever doing that.

gatorsPENSbucs posted...

The kid willingly tried to smuggle drugs, how many times who knows, and willingly drank death.

You can't fix stupid.
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shockthemonkey posted...

Teenagers are stupid. Stupidity shouldn't be a death sentence.

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The usual suspects defend this because expecting officers to act like trained professionals gets in the way of their Call of Duty cops fantasies.
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SSJ-Spiderman posted...

TheVipaGTS posted...

gatorsPENSbucs posted...

^ bingo.

That still doesn't make it ok. You can't do shit like that in a position of authority. If a boss of a company asked an employee to give him a BJ for a minor raise would you be ok with his defense being "well I didn't think she would actually do it!"...

Terrible analogy.

Itd be like if the boss told his employee to jump out the fifth story window if he wanted a raise.

Even worse analogy.

No one gets a BJ in that scenario.
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So the teenager was smuggling drugs into the country and in an effort to avoid prison he drinks it to prove it's not drugs.
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Twinmold posted...

The usual suspects defend this because expecting officers to act like trained professionals gets in the way of their Call of Duty cops fantasies.

Hey, don't be narrowminded. They're taking their cues from Bad Boys and Lethal Weapon also, y'know.
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TheVipaGTS posted...

gatorsPENSbucs posted...

^ bingo.

That still doesn't make it ok. You can't do shit like that in a position of authority. If a boss of a company asked an employee to give him a BJ for a minor raise would you be ok with his defense being "well I didn't think she would actually do it!"...

Of course they would.
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You guys know he wasn't forced to drink it right?

If somebody tells you to drink poison you don't fucking do it.

i think they expected the kid to know it could kill him and refuse to drink
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"It's not drugs, look I'll even drink it"
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marc55 posted...

i think they expected the kid to know it could kill him and refuse to drink

Exactly. They make you take a sip at some museums when you bring in liquids.

SSJ-Spiderman posted...

You guys know he wasn't forced to drink it right?

If somebody tells you to drink poison you don't fucking do it.

That doesn't excuse the officers though, if they told him to drink, and he drank it, it's on them. He obviously wasn't going to until that point, and only did so to avoid getting caught because they illegally gave him that option. It wasn't on him to prove what it was, they had the means to find out themselves, and now a kid is dead because of them because they didn't want to do their job.
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KogaSteelfang posted...

SSJ-Spiderman posted...

You guys know he wasn't forced to drink it right?

If somebody tells you to drink poison you don't fucking do it.

That doesn't excuse the officers though, if they told him to drink, and he drank it, it's on them. He obviously wasn't going to until that point, and only did so to avoid getting caught because they illegally gave him that option. It wasn't on him to prove what it was, they had the means to find out themselves, and now a kid is dead because of them because they didn't want to do their job.

He should know better. I really am finding a hard time finding sympathy for such an idiot.

They knew better too, and were adults, and had authority in the situation, and gave him an out by risking his life instead of just doing their job. Two wrongs don't make a right, and in this case a kid ended up dead because of their negligence. It doesn't matter if you have pity for him if not, they acted illegally and killed him.
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SSJ-Spiderman posted...

He should know better.

So should the officers.

It's always someone else's fault....
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The officers didn't expect to be dealing with such a huge idiot, what they said is fairly reasonable.

Drinking something you know will kill you is beyond stupid.

Fair he chose to commit suicide instead of turning himself in for drug smuggling. He voluntarily picked the bottle up with no physical assistance and drank

I like how the teen was stupid for drinking the bottle, but the officers aren't stupid for telling him to do it.

Sound logic.

Fossil posted...

gatorsPENSbucs posted...

The kid willingly tried to smuggle drugs, how many times who knows, and willingly drank death.

You can't fix stupid.

Is it true sadists always think their victims are stupid or masochists? Welcome to 2017.
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SSJ-Spiderman posted...

The officers didn't expect to be dealing with such a huge idiot, what they said is fairly reasonable.

Drinking something you know will kill you is beyond stupid.

His other option was likely a major prison sentence, so... giving him that option wasn't right. They basically sentenced him to death themselves, Saying "Dang, I didn't think he'd actually do it." doesn't change the fact that they asked him to do it, and risk his life. He obviously wasn't going to drink it until they asked him to.
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SSJ-Spiderman posted...

The officers didn't expect to be dealing with such a huge idiot, what they said is fairly reasonable.

I disagree. They should always people are huge idiots.

JE19426 posted...

SSJ-Spiderman posted...

The officers didn't expect to be dealing with such a huge idiot, what they said is fairly reasonable.

I disagree. They should always people are huge idiots.

Yeah, they saw a 16 year old drug smuggler, and thought "Hey, this kid is making great life decisions, let's test him with one bad one." right?
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Capn Circus posted...

He volunteered to drink

And he volunteered to smuggle e drugs in liquid form.

Don't smuggle drugs, don't do drugs.
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KogaSteelfang posted...

SSJ-Spiderman posted...

The officers didn't expect to be dealing with such a huge idiot, what they said is fairly reasonable.

Drinking something you know will kill you is beyond stupid.

His other option was likely a major prison sentence, so... giving him that option wasn't right. They basically sentenced him to death themselves, Saying "Dang, I didn't think he'd actually do it." doesn't change the fact that they asked him to do it, and risk his life. He obviously wasn't going to drink it until they asked him to.

no, you're wrong! he was a giant idiot who did a stupid thing, and it was all his fault! these fine officers did nothing wrong, and the fact that the kid drank concentrated drugs is a testament to what a moron he was!

CE makes me angry. They told him to drink from the bottle, and he chose to die rather than get processed and sent to jail. the officers should have followed protocol instead of encouraging the boy to ingest a deadly liquid, and whether they were surprised at his actions or not they denied doing what they did to cover their asses. Fuck them, and fuck blaming the victim on this. I hope they're removed from any position of power.
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