Wednesday, January 22, 2003
By Timmy Smith, Las Cruces Herald of Truth Staff Writer
El Paso, Texas - An Immigration and Naturalization Service review board has cleared Border Patrol officer Jim Phister of any wrongdoing in an incident that involved the shooting of a man at a Border Patrol checkpoint thirty miles north of Las Cruces, New Mexico.
According to the El Paso Times, on December 8, 2002 at about 8:41 PM, a van containing four brothers from Blancheville, Arkansas approached the checkpoint. Officer Phister, who was on duty, noticed that the vehicle’s occupants were laughing. Following standard Border Patrol procedure, the officer stopped the van and inquired if its occupants were US citizens. The driver of the van, Hink Ford answered "yes" and proceeded to chuckle. Suspecting that the occupants of the vehicle might be under the influence of drugs, Officer Phister put his head into the open window of the van in an attempt to detect the odor of marijuana. Phister was overcome by noxious fumes from within the van and began to gag and complain of blindness. At this point, the van’s passengers laughed and snorted uncontrollably. Eyewitness accounts state that one of the passengers referred to Phister as a "sissy-boy". Officer Phister drew his service revolver and began firing it wildly. Ezekiah Ford, who was a passenger in the van, was struck in the shoulder and hip. When an EMS crew arrived, they refused to assist the injured man until his brothers removed him from the malodorous vehicle. When interrogated, the brothers revealed that they had been participating in a flatulence contest. Investigators found no evidence drugs within the van, although they did find five empty cans of pork and beans.
The INS review board stated its opinion that Officer Phister acted with remarkable restraint considering the fact he fired only four of his six rounds of ammunition.
Officer Phister, who has been on medical leave since the incident, is planning to seek civil damages from the Ford brothers.