Family of Murdered Border Patrol Agent Files $25M Claim Against ATF

[dustup]

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Family of Murdered Border Patrol Agent Files $25M Claim Against ATF

 
This undated photo provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows
U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry.

Family of murdered Border Patrol agent files $25M claim against ATF

Published February 01, 2012 | FoxNews.com


The family of murdered Border Patrol agent Brian Terry has filed a $25 million wrongful death claim against the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives claiming Terry was killed with AK-47s that were knowingly sold under the Fast and Furious gunrunning probe to a straw purchaser for drug cartels.

In a 65-page complaint, served on the government on Wednesday, attorneys for the family claim ATF "wrongdoing" in Operation Fast and Furious.

“ATF's failures were not only negligent but in violation of ATF's own policies and procedures," the complaint claims.

The family has also filed a claim against the Lone Wolf Trading Company seeking unspecified damages for negligence in selling the weapons to the purchaser and aiding and abetting in Mexican drug cartels’ conduct.

The claim says Lone Wolf knowingly sold "hundreds of weapons" to various straw purchasers and in turn realized "hundreds of thousands of dollars in profits from these sales."

The claim alleges that "but for defendants' negligent and illegal sales ... Brian Terry would not have been murdered in the Arizona desert on Dec. 14, 2010."

The family is seeking a jury trial.

The government now has six months to respond or the Terry family will file a suit for the $25 million.

According to the claim, agent Terry was patrolling near Rio Rico on the night of Dec. 14, 2010 when he was shot and killed by criminals yielding assault rifles. Those rifles were traced to a straw purchaser for Mexican drug cartels in Arizona who the ATF knew about and allowed to deliver the weapons to the cartels.

http://nation.foxnews.com/fast-and-furious/2012/02/02/family-murdered-border-patrol-agent-files-25m-claim-against-atf

[Case_Closed]

Sad news indeed.

[DougRich]

The claim alleges that "but for defendants' negligent and illegal sales ... Brian Terry would not have been murdered in the Arizona desert on Dec. 14, 2010."

...since, prior to the ATF operation, the Mexican drug cartels were competely without weapons of any kind, and would have had to attack Brian Terry, if at all, with water balloons and spitwads.

[Case_Closed]

...since, prior to the ATF operation, the Mexican drug cartels were competely without weapons of any kind, and would have had to attack Brian Terry, if at all, with water balloons and spitwads.

Real nice, Douglas.  Make light of the death of an American.

*spits*

[Observer]

...since, prior to the ATF operation, the Mexican drug cartels were competely without weapons of any kind, and would have had to attack Brian Terry, if at all, with water balloons and spitwads.

The fact remains that the weapon used to kill Agent Terry was was placed in the hands of the killers by the US Government with the full knowledge that it would be used in criminal activities.

[DougRich]

The fact remains that the weapon used to kill Agent Terry was was placed in the hands of the killers by the US Government with the full knowledge that it would be used in criminal activities.

I'm not defending the program or the way it was conducted; rather, I'm suggesting that the legal principle of shared liability, let alone criminal blame, can only be carried so far in certain directions - law enforcement operations being one of them. If the police use some large quantity of, let's say, heroin in some kind of sting, and the thing goes sideways and the drugs are lost, and some innocent bystanders are subsequently murdered by somebody who is under the influence of that particular heroin, to what degree can the police reasonably be held to have been complicit in the murders?

[Observer]

The difference here is one of control. There weren't ATF agents tracking those guns every step of the way. The guns didn't just get away from them. They put the guns in the hands of the bad guys KNOWING they were going to be used for criminal purposes. It isn't like they turned their backs for a second and all of a sudden the guns were gone.

As a minimum, Holder needs to burn.  We should consider turning him over to Mexican authorities to stand trial for complicity in the murder of a whole bunch of Mexican nationals.