By Arturo Carmona, Presente.org
April 18, 2012
"Please! Señores, help me!"
These are the words screamed by Anastasio Hernández-Rojas as over a dozen U.S. Border Patrol agents beat and tasered him in May 2010. PBS has just uncovered new video showing how Anastasio laid in the dirt defenseless, begging for his life, as Border Patrol agents continued to beat him. The video elicits haunting reminders of the Rodney King beating as Anastasio cries out "¡Nooo! ¡Nooo! ¡Déjenme! [Leave me alone!] ¡Nooo! ¡Señores!" Anastasio later died at the hospital.
There's been two years of inaction, and now we finally have the evidence we need to break the case open. Watch the video clip and sign a petition telling the Justice Department to investigate his death immediately.
http://act.presente.org/sign/anastasio/
If justice isn't served for Anastasio, even when video clearly shows injustice, Border Patrol agents will continue their pattern of abuse and lethal force. Since Anastasio's death in May 2010, at least 7 other US citizens and non-citizens have died in Border Patrol custody, yet there's been no serious investigation by the Justice Department.
"They [Border Patrol] didn't stop to think that he had a family. That he left behind five children and a wife," said Anastasio's widow, María Puga. Please join María in bearing witness to the killing of Anastasio Hernández-Rojas and tell the Justice Department to investigate his homicide now!
http://act.presente.org/sign/anastasio/
Todos somos Anastasio. We are all Anastasio.
Thanks and ¡adelante!
Arturo, Ana, Roberto and the rest of the Presente.org Team
References:
"First Look: Crossing The Line," Need to Know on PBS, 4/12/12
http://to.pbs.org/IZequw
“In History: Rodney King,” CBS News, 2/26/06
http://cbsn.ws/IL5G4C
Southern Border Communities Coalition
http://soboco.org/category/border-brutality
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