Updated at 4:22 p.m. to include statement from Border Patrol.
U.S. Border Patrol agents in Vermont years ago stopped conducting “internal checkpoints” after citizens complained that they were being unnecessarily pulled over and questioned even though they were sometimes more than an hour from the border. But an incident at a similar checkpoint in the border town of Waddington, N.Y. on Thursday has sparked a heated controversy.
Jessica A. Cooke, 21, of Ogdensburg, N.Y., was detained as she drove to her boyfriend’s house. Agents have wide legal latitude to stop vehicles up to 100 miles from the international border. During the encounter with Cooke, agents apparently decided that she appeared nervous. They had her pull to the side of the road after the initial encounter and sent for a canine to sniff the vehicle.
Cooke videoed the subsequent encounter with two agents on her cellphone, and it’s since been posted to YouTube. The New York Civil Liberties Union has called the footage “disturbing.”
Cooke repeatedly challenged two agents, a female who initially pulled her over and a male supervisor, about why she was being detained. Cooke eventually threatened to call 911 if they did not soon release her.
“OK, good luck with that,” the male agent said.
Cooke continued to press them. “Why am I being held?” she said. “Why do you want to get in my trunk when you have no right to?”
The male agent explained that she could leave, but her car would have to remain until a search was performed. If she tried to drive off, he said, he would spike her tires. He then ordered her to stand to the side. She refused.
“If you touch me, I will sue your ass,” Cooke said.
“Move over there now,” he replied.
“Go ahead and touch me,” Cooke said as he approached.
Her cellphone fell to the ground during an apparent struggle, but the recording captured Cooke seconds later howling in pain and demanding the agents remove the Taser probe from her back. “Get it out of me! Get it out of me! I didn’t do anything to you! … You fucking Tased me, you asshole! Get off of me!” she screamed.
Cooke later said the female agent shot her with a Taser as the male agent wrestled her to the ground. She was held in a Border Patrol holding station for several hours before a local sheriff’s deputy drove her home.
As Seven Days described in a cover story last week, Swanton is the headquarters for the Border Patrol sector that is responsible for eastern New York, including Waddington, and all of Vermont and New Hampshire. Swanton sector spokeswoman Teresa Moody said the agency is continuing to investigate the incident and has notified the Department of Homeland Security’s internal investigative branch, the DHS Office of the Inspector General.
“The altercation followed a brief verbal exchange between the individual and the two agents regarding their intent to inspect the vehicle,” Moody said in a prepared statement. “CBP investigators have analyzed the scene of the incident, are taking statements and have reached out to the individuals involved. Based on preliminary information from the investigation, one of the two agents deployed an electronic control device during the altercation.”
Cooke did not respond to a message seeking comment from Seven Days. In media interviews, Cooke said she was planning on hiring an attorney and pursing legal action against the Border Patrol.
“If I can take it to Supreme Court, I will take it to Supreme Court,” she told the Watertown Daily Times. “I should never have been detained.”
“This disturbing video is just the latest report to raise serious concerns about the intrusiveness of Border Patrol’s tactics and whether or not they are following the law when they detain people at checkpoints,” a New York Civil Liberties Union attorney said in a prepared statement. “Border Patrol should only detain people for extended periods at checkpoints when there is a reasonable suspicion of criminal activity. Tasers are also dangerous weapons that require rules and oversight to ensure they are only ever used when force is needed to address a risk of imminent harm to officers or others.”
Cooke just graduated from SUNY Canton with a degree in criminal justice. She told the Watertown Daily Times she still plans to pursue a career in law enforcement.
“Of course, I second-guess it,” Cooke told the paper, “but it takes something like this and someone like me to change it.”
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Real dangerous people, those farmers over the Border in Quebec. Besides, they speak that funny French, so you already know they must be Communists. Gotta go spend $45 Billion to keep them Controlled. And be sure to whack anybody who says “No” with a Taser, that’ll teach those Commies to question Government Authority. Ever ask yourself just exactly how many illegal cross-border migrants those roaming “check-points” a hundred miles South have ever apprehended? Answer: zero.
Just lovely.
what is being done about the punk with the badge who assaulted this woman?
Having dealt with these facist thugs myself, i can totally understand where she is coming from. These border patrol pigs are out of control. They need to be completely retrained.
This incident is consistent with my experience. Although not “tased,” officers at the border were condescending, bullying and threatening. It seems like they are trained and ordered to be this way.
While they need a legal right to detain you, she went about it the wrong way. She should have remained calm, not threaten to sue them, stayed in her vehicle, obeyed the officers instructions (regardless of their legal right) and stated that “she does not give consent to a search”, and not call them names, and contact a lawyer immediately (even while waiting. This would not have prevented a search, but, it would make anything they find inadmissible.You calmly, and respectively, ask if you are being detained and that you will not answer any questions without a lawyer present. They may threaten, or bully your, but if you maintain your calm and respect, in the end, you will come out okay.
I would like to support this woman’s lawsuit.
The assault and kidnapping she experienced is lawless and corrupt.
.Immigration and custom officials used to be competent above average individuals required to pass with a high score a rigorous civil service exam. Those who grew up on the border will attest to their respect and competency. .. ….now….. Black Shirt hires from “hoMelanD seKurity” are helping police our borders which now a hassle to get back in. Oft repeated less reported detainment’s and phishing expeditions never actually happen…not without a cell phone….CAN YOU HEAR ME NOW ? For what each operative cost per hour truth preservational body cam technology cost seems pale in comparison to it’s value in justice.
“Tasers are also dangerous weapons that require rules and oversight to ensure they are only ever used when force is needed to address a risk of imminent harm to officers or others” this is part of the training manual and officers in Burlington need to pass the training every year ….It does not matter though My son was tazed in the back of his head and buttocks while running fast his face was all broken as his teeth And the police man who did this to him is off scott free even though in the training and in the manual it says not to taze in the chest the head the neck people who are pregnant or have heart issues this same officer tazed a man who was in a choke hold this was a difficult video for me to see
When I drove back to Burlington VT from QC Que in late 2012 to help and support a friend who was dying of cancer, I started to feel unwell (turned out I had a 24-hour stomach bug).
Big Bertha at the Swanton crossing says I look like a “Nervous Nellie” (I was sweating because I was 1 hour from puking, and feeling a bit dizzy)
She asked me:
Why did I have such a large suitcase if I was only staying in VT for 3 days (my reply: I sweat a lot anyway, and I may stay longer
What is your (dying) friend’s name? His place of birth? How long have you known him?
If I weren’t feeling so bad, I’d have pulled over and written everything down. If this happens again any time I will.
We were treated horrifically bad traveling from Quebec to Vermont at the Alburg / Noyan border crossing. My wife and I went to Montreal for the weekend and were greeted by friendly courteous Canadian border patrol agents on the way into Canada via I-89, but were treated like dirtbag criminals on the way back into the USA via 225. We reported them, but we knew those rednecks would never get reprimanded. Our border patrol has WAY too much power. United States of East Germany. Papers please!
I really hope they get sued and they are not allowed to mistreat American citizens like this. I have experienced mistreatments at the border and even at airport. They think they are the king just because they have certain authority to stop & search. We are asian americans with US passports and when ever we are at the US side of the border, we get treated as if we are illegal aliens. These thugs are very rude, condescending and always on power trip. It is such a shame that our own people in power are doing this to our citizens. Everything goes right outside our country and at international airports and customs but coming home is like entering an enemy territory.
The woman who tased the victim is a mother. I wonder what her children go thru with her. She had no right to tase the victim. Victim apparently was harmless and had no weapon on her. Why taser then? This BP Agent obviously has serious mental issues and should be observed closely, fired and sued. The real people in much danger today are her very own children. They should remove them from her immediately.
I would be sent to prison if they ever tried to stop me. For one thing I would never stop for a border patrol car, if I had not crossed a border. Second, nobody can search my car or me ever. They will never have cause, so they cannot do it legally. And third, I would fight back if they touched me or my car. They do not have the jurisdiction or the right to do so. Call the cops if you want to deal with me. Not border agents.
A degree in Criminal Justice?? All that education and she acts like a uneducated mentally disturbed individual.
Whatever you do, DO NOT STOP anyone coming into the country ILLEGALLY ! Find an American college student, preferably a woman, and give her the business, that is , if you get bored while at work doing NOTHING to stop the INVASION !