SUNY Canton criminal justice student tased by U.S. Border Patrol

A 21 year old SUNY Canton criminal justice student who was detained and tased at a Border Patrol checkpoint Thursday says she is the victim of "police brutality." "They overstepped their boundaries. They put on a badge and they have a gun and they think they're hot sh*t," said Jessica Cooke of Tuck Road, Ogdensburg.

Cooke says the incident unfolded after she was stopped at a checkpoint and ordered to open the trunk of her car. Cooke captured much of the incident on her cell phone camera. You can watch it at the bottom of this story. When she refused, she says she was ordered to pull off the highway and told a K-9 was on it's way to search her vehicle.

When she exited her vehicle questioning the federal agents actions and not complying, Cooke told 7 News Reporter John Friot a male agent "got in my face." She said "he threatened me and said he would move me if I didn't move." Cooke said the make agent "pushed me back into the side of my car and I pushed back, it was a shoving match before he threw me to the ground and had the female agent tase me in the lower back".

Source

Here is another link from a Syracuse station about this incident:

www.localsyr.com...

Is it me or are incidents of police brutality happening with increasing frequency and severity?

I hope she successfully sues their backsides.

Why didn't she just let them see her trunk? I travel around that area frequently for work and have a lawyer friend that way and everyone knows tons of drugs cross there. If your location is correct you know this also. Just because someone chooses to be non-compliant and confrontational..and coincidentally whip their phone out in time to record themselves does not grant them victim status.

originally posted by: wondering5740
Why didn't she just let them see her trunk? I travel around that area frequently for work and have a lawyer friend that way and everyone knows tons of drugs cross there. If your location is correct you know this also. Just because someone chooses to be non-compliant and confrontational..and coincidentally whip their phone out in time to record themselves does not grant them victim status.

Just because "tons of drugs" cross that area didn't give the agents just cause to detain her or demand to see the contents of her trunk. If it were me I would have demanded to see their warrant. Which they didn't have, of course.

Did you see the video? If anyone was confrontational it was the agents and not Ms. Cooke. She didnt' have to put her phone away as the woman agent demanded. We do have the right to take videos of the police.....but as Ferguson, Baltimore and other recent incidents have shown, the cops just don't like being caught red-handed.

She had the right to know why she was being detained.

Nope.....I totally disagree with you. I hope she will follow this up with a lawsuit.

Little by little our rights are being taken away. Incidents like this will happen more often. And it shouldn't be that way.

I really hate passing through 3 check points driving from AZ TO CA.

BUT. the Border Patrol has a job to do. They don't need this nonsense.

originally posted by: Annee
I really hate passing through 3 check points driving from AZ TO CA.

BUT. the Border Patrol has a job to do. They don't need this nonsense.

And We the People have the right to enjoy our lives without being subject to police brutality. She didn't need to be tased, did she? Why wouldn't they tell her why she was being pulled over? And btw - if anything was found (I'm certain her vehicle was searched after the arrest), that information would have been made public.

The police don't have the right to pull someone over on a "hunch." They have to be able to show just cause. And they cannot in this case. They blew it big time and will most likely (I hope) get their backsides sued.

I'm always on the side of the citizen and that due process and justified suspicion, which wouldn't have been the case here, would always have to be used. But in this case it seemed to be, deliberate abuse towards citizens to try and make the employer back down to the thug employee for their NWO.

a reply to: dianajune

That's where you're wrong. They're Border Patrol, not police. She wasn't pulled over "on a hunch", she was stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint. They can't detain you for an extended period of time, but they can have a drug dog check your car if they feel they have a reasonable suspicion, which includes acting nervous.

US Border Checkpoints
Be aware that Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents — which are part of the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) — are permitted to search you and your belongings at the U.S. border without probable cause or a search warrant. So anytime you cross the border, you consent to a search.

CBP may generally stop and search the property of anyone entering or exiting the U.S. If agents have reasonable suspicion to believe you’re concealing contraband, they may search your body using pat-down, strip, body cavity, or involuntary x-ray searches.

www.flexyourrights.org...

At checkpoints they're allowed to detain you and have a drug sniffing dog check your vehicle, which gives them probable cause if you don't agree to allow them to check it. There was a video recently of a truck driver who did something similar, and refused to answer their questions, and he ended up on 18 months probation for it.

Lol!

The guy goes hands on first and they want to get her for assault just cause she wouldn't stand where they wanted?

Is it a crime to not stand where you are told?

All from a claim of 'acting nervous'?

Ya, they have a job to do alright, this isn't it.

After the K-9 found nothing in her car, Cooke said she was told she would be taken to U.S. Customs.

Proof is in the pudding.

originally posted by: dianajune

originally posted by: Annee
I really hate passing through 3 check points driving from AZ TO CA.

BUT. the Border Patrol has a job to do. They don't need this nonsense.

And We the People have the right to enjoy our lives without being subject to police brutality.

What a bunch of self righteous BS.

Plenty of threads on ATS how the government isn't doing their job by securing the border.

Damned if you do --- damned if you don't.

a reply to: dianajune

If you want to refuse a checkpoint there are 100 videos on you tube showing you how. But you do have to have a measure of self control.no more comments because frankly there are better things on ATS.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: dianajune

That's where you're wrong. They're Border Patrol, not police. She wasn't pulled over "on a hunch", she was stopped at a Border Patrol checkpoint. They can't detain you for an extended period of time, but they can have a drug dog check your car if they feel they have a reasonable suspicion, which includes acting nervous.

I've been driving the AZ CA route for about 7 years. I got pulled into secondary one time because my 4 year old grandson pulled a blanket over his head. The dogs are also trained to detect hidden humans.

They're doing their job.

Only an asshole tries to give them crap.

a reply to: Annee

We go through them in Texas and Arizona all the time. It's really simple. "US Citizen?" "Yes Sir." "Have a nice day." I've never once had a problem with any checkpoint, just by being polite and respectful. We've had to go through secondary once.

a reply to: Annee

It isn't illegal to be an asshole to cops/feds.

My main issue with the whole thing is how he went hands on with here cause she wouldn't stand where he wanted her to but she catches the assault?

The whole if you don't have anything to hide you have nothing to worry about is not the way things should be.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Annee

We go through them in Texas and Arizona all the time. It's really simple. "US Citizen?" "Yes Sir." "Have a nice day." I've never once had a problem with any checkpoint, just by being polite and respectful. We've had to go through secondary once.

Absolutely!

Challenging the border patrol is just stupid. They're not looking for the "little guy". I've known people who got pulled over for pot. They got a written citation to appear in court, then sent on their way.

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Annee

It isn't illegal to be an asshole to cops/feds.

My main issue with the whole thing is how he went hands on with here cause she wouldn't stand where he wanted her to but she catches the assault?

The whole if you don't have anything to hide you have nothing to worry about is not the way things should be.

She was challenging them.

Stupid and unnecessary.

a reply to: Annee

She was looking for a confrontation, and got what she was after.

originally posted by: Zaphod58
a reply to: Annee

She was looking for a confrontation, and got what she was after.

Yes. As we who live in border states know.

She acted like a belligerent child.

a reply to: Annee

She was challenging them.

Is that illegal?

Fine to call it stupid and unnecessary, I some what agree.

But does that mean that the guy gets to take it to a physical level?
And then turn around and charge her for assault when he went hands on first?

originally posted by: Sremmos80
a reply to: Annee

She was challenging them.

Is that illegal?

Fine to call it stupid and unnecessary, I some what agree.

But does that mean that the guy gets to take it to a physical level?
And then turn around and charge her for assault when he went hands on first?

Is being an asshole illegal? I don't think so.

Complaining about being treated badly while being an asshole. Priceless.