In the summer of 2010, a 15-year-old boy was shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent. The boy’s family filed a $25 million lawsuit against the United States, but court documents revealed that on August 11 their case was dismissed, due to the side of the fence he was shot on.
The family of Sergio Adrian Hernandez Güereca believed BP Agent Jesus Mesa Jr. “negligently, wrongfully, and tortuously caused the death” of the teenager, on June 7th, 2010, when Mesa was patrolling the border.
Reports say Hernandez Güereca was with a group of boys when Mesa saw them running up a concrete drainage ditch and touching the chain-link fence on the U.S. side. He proceeded to take them into custody for illegally entering the country, and drew his firearm when he began being pelted with rocks. He shot Güereca twice, and the 15-year-old died from his injuries.
The video became internationally known when a cell phone video of the altercation was shown on television.
The family’s case however, was dismissed earlier this month, as Senior U.S. District Judge David Briones said the U.S. government could not be sued because the boy technically died on the Mexico side of the border, and “there are no statutes that apply to sue the U.S. government,” said the El Paso Times.
