Texas Wont No Longer will Shoot Immigrants from Copters Anymore
A Texas state trooper firing from a helicopter killed at least two people along a rural dirt road near the Mexican border when he opened fire on a car loaded with suspected illegal immigrants that was evading authorities, The Monitor reports.
The shooting occurred along an isolated road north of La Joya Thursday afternoon.
The Associated Press reported that seven other Guatemalans in the car were arrested. One of them was injured in the shooting and sent to an area hospital.
The Monitor of McAllen said the red pickup had refused to stop at the order of a Texas state game warden.
The Department of Public Safety helicopter carrying the sharpshooter was then called in to assist in the chase, McAllen newspaper reports, quoting two unidentified law enforcement sources.
DPS spokeswoman Katherine Cesinger said only that a DPS officer "discharged a weapon" during the chase, theSan Antonio Express-News reports.
According to the revised policy later released by DPS, "a firearms discharge from an aircraft is authorized only when an officer reasonably believes that the suspect has used or is about to use deadly force by use of a deadly weapon against the air crew, ground officers or innocent third parties."
The Guatemalan consul in McAllen, Texas, said her government is looking into the matter, the AP reported.
A suspect driving aggressively or recklessly does not constitute use of a deadly weapon, the new policy states.
The American Civil Liberties Union quickly applauded the move.
"We are relieved that Texas is ending this extreme practice, which no other Southwestern border states have ever allowed," said Terri Burke, executive director of the ACLU of Texas. "We hope that this decision is a step, if only a small one, toward ending the culture of violence that pervades enforcement of border security in Texas."
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