Tohono O'odham seeks justice for son ran over by Border Patrol

Brenda Norrell [reprint from global IMC], 02.05.2006 12:26

Why does the US government and US Border Patrol want to keep this case from going to appeal in federal court? What really happened when 18-year-old Tohono O'odham Bennett Patricio was ran over and killed at 4 a.m. in the desert near the border.

Tohono O'odham seeks justice for son ran over by Border Patrol

By Brenda Norrell
Indian Country Today

SELLS, Ariz. - Tohono O'odham Angelita Reino Ramon is fighting a lonely battle as she seeks justice for her son, 18-year-old Bennett Patricio Jr., who was run over and killed by U.S. Border Patrol Agent Cody Rouse on April 9, 2002.

In the beginning, Ramon was prepared to accept her son's death as an accident and she waited for the Border Patrol to come to her home and apologize.

The apology never came. Instead, there were more questions than answers as to what really happened in the desert that night.

Ramon and family members filed a civil suit in U.S. District Court in Tucson and alleged that Rouse was negligent. However, in February, the court ruled in favor of the United States. Ultimately, even the Tohono O'odham Legislative Council failed to support the family when it requested funds for an attorney to file an appeal.

''No one is helping us,'' Ramon told Indian Country Today.
article:
 http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096412922


[ref]=[ http://www.indymedia.org/en/2006/05/838472.shtml]