Alf Gordon

Baptist Pastor Beaten and Tazed by Border Patrol in Arizona



Posted: Friday, April 17, 2009

by Alf Gordon

A friend of mine sent me this YouTube link to a video of pastor Steven Anderson. It is his testimony of an altercation he had on April 14 with border patrol agents as he was driving home from San Diego to his home in Phoenix. Nine minutes later, after viewing his video, I was sickened and disgusted at the way an innocent American citizen was treated by individuals who are supposed to be ensuring the safety of Americans.

Anderson was stopped and questioned by border patrol officers 75 miles east of Yuma. He was directed to a secondary search area, where he was told a dog had alerted the officers to the presence of either drugs or a human being in Anderson's trunk. Claiming his Fourth Amendment right not to be searched without a warrant, he waited in his vehicle for over an hour until DPS agents showed up and said he was under arrest. DPS agents ended up breaking into Anderson's car, tasering him, dragging him out of the vehicle and subjecting him to beatings and further tasering. He was taken to an emergency room in Yuma, then to a facility where he spent the night in jail. The next morning he appeared in court where he was told he had to come back on Friday for his arraignment. Anderson intends on pleading not guilty to the charges.

By the way, the agents searched Anderson's car after his beating, and found no drugs and no human body in the trunk. What a surprise.

A law-abiding American citizen invokes his constitutional rights and is treated like a criminal for it. Meanwhile, the true criminals -- the illegal immigrants who are sneaking into our country -- are laughing it up and going to court for protection, claiming their "rights" are being violated. I do not believe that all border patrol officers act as these men did, but there is something seriously wrong about the behavior of these individuals (who Anderson has the foresight to call on by name in his video). Will there be any justice for Steven Anderson? I certainly hope so.

Alf Gordon is a consultant and has been writing on various topics for many years, both in the public and private sectors. He and his wife live in Houston, Texas.

This Article has been viewed 825 times. (Not updated in real-time.)
Top-level comments on this article: (7 total)
» left by Ken McCreless
 3 years 24 days ago.
I sure hope he gets justice. There is no excuse for this, none at all.
» left by Ben Morrish
 3 years 24 days ago.
48 fans.
"Claiming his Fourth Amendment right not to be searched without a warrant, he waited in his vehicle for over an hour until DPS agents showed up and said he was under arrest. DPS agents ended up breaking into Anderson's car, tasering him, dragging him out of the vehicle and subjecting him to beatings and further tasering."
 
This bit confuses me. Once he has been told he is under arrest, isn't he obliged to co-operate, e.g. by getting out of the car? Yet the fact they broke in and pulled him out suggests he must have refused to do so?
» left by Ken McCreless 3 years 24 days ago.
I think the question here is why was he "under arrest?" So they could search without a warrant, or probable cause? Is the dogs reaction considered probable cause? I can understand the police wanting to search, but their tactics stink. That is what bothers me.
» left by Alf Gordon 3 years 24 days ago.
8 fans.
Ben, I checked several sources to try to find as much information as I could about the incident.  Several bloggers raised the issue as to what happened during the hour Anderson sat in his car.  Could he not have called the authorities, or at least his lawyer?  It is probably something he should have done; why he did not is never conveyed in his recounting of the incident.  Regardless, I do not believe that refusing to answer a question entitles law enforcement officials to beat and taser anyone who is not resisting arrest or resorting to violence during the process.  Anderson remained passive the entire time; even after he stopped crying out for the officers to stop, they continued their attack on him.  Border agents have gone to jail for doing much less to illegal immigrants; why should these individuals get away with treating an American citizen this way?
» left by Linda DeWitt
from Oregon 3 years 24 days ago.
67 fans. Follow Linda DeWitt on twitter!
It will be interesting to see what the outcome is.
Linda D
» left by Alf Gordon 3 years 24 days ago.
8 fans.
Linda, I will be keeping my eye on this and reporting back to Searchwarp with whatever information I find.
» left by Anonymous
 3 years 23 days ago.
Alf, confusing, really? A lot missing but and that but is real significant if this man was "harmless" and this happened the real question evryone needs to condider is, why it took place. Yes and that one isn't just an oH Well.
» left by Anonymous
 3 years 22 days ago.
Justice…briefly, as a presently active policeman I’ve dealt with blind, unreasonable people such as this man numerous times—viewing the video shows some classic signs that point to  unreasonable and obsessive behavior—often times good communication skills by police officers can assist tunnel visioned, obsessive individuals into reasonableness, however, sometimes that simply does not work.  By the way, there are two sides to a story.  Where’s the other side from the police officers mentioned in the article.  How do we jump right in and believe that he did not resist—listen to how short fused he starts to become to the camera operator for a minor interruption—a small sign but one of many to a trained eye.  Finally, he’s a man of God?  A Christian?  How about following the Good Book where it says, “Give unto Caesar what is Caesars, when a police canine alerts on your vehicle it is probable cause to be searched.    And to think he guides people towards the Lord…
 
» left by Anonymous 3 years 15 days ago.
Normally I don't respond to this stuff but I want to comment on the officers above statement of misdirection.  Your side, don't want to give comment. More then a handful of news outlets have asked for clarifying comment.  As always your people are going to employs their tactic of " its under investigation" and we don't comment on "ongoing investigation. With that said, don't accuse anyone of being one sided. We The People put you in power and We The People have a right to know.  Officers of America need to understand that their opinion of how this country should be run is quickly becoming a minority opinion.  The rest of America know the sleazy politician's are going to sell you up the river as soon as the get a chance.
» left by Anonymous 2 years 352 days ago.

You might want to get out of your self-imposed vacuum; no one said anything about that the country should be run a certain way.  A third party should look at both sides when commenting like this. 

 

 

» left by Anonymous
 3 years 22 days ago.
Like many Federal Agencies, such as the DEA, Homeland Security is mostly a welfare system that generates income fro officials who don't have enough to do, and so have to make stuff up. This was driven home in an episode of "Homeland Security", you know, one of those reality-type shows that tries to show how heroic our law enforcement agencies are, but backfired in my opinion when they arrested a 21-year old Swedish belly dancer for trying to enter the country and sell her product. Imagine all the damage that might have happened had she slipped through the system! Destroying youth, taking away valuable jobs from honest Americans. Tsk, tsk.
» left by Avis Ward
 3 years 20 days ago.
132 fans.
I did not view the video because even if it were a clip from Rocky, I can't take watching abuse. I go with two sides to every story. When Jesus was told to carry His cross, He did. A Baptist pastor should have shown greater humility and obedience to "the laws of the land" he is charged with obeying. He should have been aware of the devil's mission better than your average citizen and did what he was asked to do. Did he deserve to be "beaten and tazed?" Not if he did not do anything to cause it, no!

Can't wait to read a followup, Alf.
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