“You can ring my bell” but not honk your horn
A video from Charlotte shows Border Patrol agents pointing an assault rifle at a woman’s head before breaking her car window and arresting her and a passenger, both American citizens. CBP chased them down and accused them of “honking their horn to alert others that troops were in the area” (WCNC Charlotte):
Dramatic video captured the moment agents took the two women into custody following a chase down Central Avenue. The women were later released with citations after spending several hours at an FBI facility.
Neighbor Shea Watts began recording after hearing a commotion outside his window.
In the video, an agent can be seen breaking a car window while pointing an assault rifle at one of the women.
“He’s breaking the window— He’s got an assault rifle pointed at her,” Watts said in the recording.
Watts described his reaction as “somewhere between disbelief and just being really upset that this is our reality now.”
A Charlotte attorney tells WCNC that, yes, CBP can make an arrest for interfering in their operations:
“You get in the way of an officer making an arrest, like meaningfully get in the way, then you can count on getting arrested yourself,” Mauney said. “If you’re standing 25 or 50 yards away where you’re not in any way interfering with the law enforcement activity that’s taking place, you have a right to videotape that.”
And what about all those whistles?
The U.S. Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to requests for comment about the citations or potential charges.
“I was already close to despair and feeling helpless and hopeless,” Watts said. “But I think just the reminder that if we see something, to document it. I tried to be respectful and ask questions and knowing my own rights, and I was told to back up a couple times, which, that’s fine, but at the end of the day, this all feels a little heavy handed.”
A little heavy handed?
Watch:
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