Brickbat: Good to the Last Drop

Danny Raustadt / Dreamstime

The United States government agreed to pay $1 million to settle a lawsuit brought by the family of Cruz Velazquez Acevedo, who died after Customs and Border Protection officers encouraged him to drink liquid meth. Cruz, 16, was crossing the border from Mexico to San Diego with what he said was apple juice. The officers told him to drink some to prove that's all it was. The officers were not disciplined.

Comments

[Rat on a train]

Energy drinks are dangerous.

[sarcasmic]

Good thing he didn't spike it with vodka. Then he'd really be in trouble.

[Fist of Etiquette]

"But he's a 16-year-old boy with all the immaturity and bad judgment that might be characteristic of any 16-year-old kid," Iredale told The Washington Post.

And federal agents are using the immaturity and bad judgment characteristic of federal agents. They should similarly be given a pass.

[Libertarian]

The feds spent $1M to settle a lawsuit regarding agents' actions that didn't even result in a letter of reprimand. No matter which side of this case you're on, you have to admit something is outta whack.

[sarcasmic]

There is nothing more important than the public's trust in government. Without it civilization would come to an abrupt halt. So long as people in government refuse to admit to any wrongdoing, ever, then the public trust is preserved. The moment people in government admit that they are human beings instead of angels with godlike powers, the whole thing goes down the tubes.

[Longtobefree]

Sounds like a good deal for the taxpayer. I suspect it would cost over a million dollars in federal wages to have the court paperwork filled out, let alone go to trial.

[Frank White]

Agent: Was that wrong? Should I not have done that? I tell you, I gotta plead ignorance on this thing, because if anyone had said anything to me at all when I first started here that that sort of thing is frowned upon... you know, cause I've worked in a lot of offices, and I tell you, people do that all the time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-RvNS7JfcMM

[Telcontar the Wanderer]

Another sign that our LE agencies are out of control: clearly, patrolmen should NOT be allowed to Triple-Dog-Dare suspects without an attorney present. It's just too much power for one man to wield.

[Bubba Jones]

I don't get it. Asking someone to take a sip of something seems like an effective way of ensuring something is not liquid meth. Much faster and cheaper than chemical testing.

The kid deserves a Darwin Award.

[mattcid]

Thank you. This incident is hilarious and anyone who expects better of a Federal Agent should have their head examined.

[frankania]

Again, useless tragedy caused by BIG BROTHER govt. Think how much better life would be if adults could ingest whatever they want, gamble their money, and pay for sex. No smuggling, no cartels, no DEA and no jails full of non-violent souls.

[Jerryskids]

I'm just curious how many apple juice carriers have been arrested and jailed on suspicion of possessing liquid meth. Or prosecuted and convicted, given the criminal behavior of drug labs and prosecutors.

[BYODB]

I'm afraid that I don't really have any particular sympathy here. So a drug mule was carrying drugs across the border, claimed it was 'apple juice', and when officers said 'well, take a drink of it if that's all it is' he decided to commit suicide rather than get arrested.

Or, is the claim here that the kid didn't know what he was carrying and the officers did know and they purposefully triple-dog-dared him to kill himself?

Because if that's the claim, it would appear to legitimize the arrest of that women who 'convinced' her fianc? to commit suicide and thus she was guilty of manslaughter which is ludicrous. In other words, why was this drug mule incapable of having agency?

[TW]

I'm in agreement - unless the officers either spiked the drink and this was an innocent traveler who actually thought it was apple juice, this is a case of a drug mule choosing suicide over jail time. His parents shouldn't have received a dime.

[Telcontar the Wanderer]

Dafuq?

You expect a 16-year-old to know that drinking meth is more lethal than the normal ways it's taken? I didn't know that until I went back and read the Brickbat again- when I first skimmed through it, I assumed the kid had survived. Why would you expect an uneducated non-user mule to know?

The kid couldn't be expected to know what he was doing was lethal. The cops, on the other hand, have absolutely no excuse. Why are we to hold underage suspects to higher standards of propriety than our allegedly responsible LEOs?

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