By Jon Christian Ryter
October 25, 2006
NewsWithViews.com
On Feb. 17, 2005 drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete-Davila loaded up his van with 743 lbs of marijuana and headed for the US border where he expected to deliver his illegal cargo to waiting drug dealers in the United States. Within 48 hours, Aldrete-Davila believed his marijuana would be in the distribution pipeline and he would be back in Mexico awaiting his next drug deal. Only, that night would not be a typical run for the drug smuggler. That night, he would cross paths with a couple of US Border Patrol agent—and the encounter would change their lives forever. It would also have cause to make the American people wonder on which side of the illegal invasion of America their government stood because what happened should not transpire between a criminal who avoided arrest while smuggling a million dollar's worth of marijuana into the country and the US Department of Justice. It smells like rotten mackerel.
Border Patrol agent Jose Alonso Compean, age 28, was driving on the levee road near the Rio Grande in Fabens, Texas, some 40 miles southeast of El Paso when he spotted a suspicious van moving at high speed ahead of him, heading north. Compean called for backup. Responding to his call for help was 37-year old Border Patrol agent Ignacio Ramos who had arrested over 100 drug smugglers during his career with the Border Patrol. Ramos is an 8-year veteran of the US Navy, and was a former "Border Patrol Agent-of-the-year" nominee. A third, unidentified, Border Patrol agent was already chasing the van. He would avoid prosecution by agreeing to testify against Ramos and Compean. Driving the van was Aldrete-Davila.
When Aldrete-Davila reached the outskirts of Fabens, he realized he would not be able to outrun the law enforcement officers and decided to try to get his contraband back across the Mexican border in order to avoid arrest and the seizure of his million dollar cargo. Compean, who was coming upon the chase from a different direction, realized Aldrete-Davila was going to try to get back across the border. He positioned himself between the fleeing drug runner and the two agents who were in hot pursuit. Had Compean been a little bit bigger man, or had the Mexican smuggler been less powerful physically, the chase would have ended different. It would have been just another night on the border and the three Border Patrol agents would have been heralded as heroes who kept a million dollars of marijuana off of America's streets—and out of our schools.
Realizing he could not save both the contraband and himself, Aldrete-Davila abandoned his van on the levee and began running to the river—into the waiting Compean. As he neared the levee, Ramos could hear Compean shouting at the fleeing illegal to stop as he crossed one of the canals. Shots rang out changing, in the mind of Ramos, the danger level of the chase. Ramos would later testify that "...[a]t some point during the time where I'm crossing the canal, I hear shots being fired. Later, I see Compean on the ground, but I keep running after the smuggler." Through the thick dust Ramos saw Aldrete-Davila, who was turning to face him. Ramos testified that he saw what appeared to be a nickle-plated gun in his hand. Believing his life was in danger, he fired. "I shot," Ramos continued. "But I didn't think he was hit because he kept running into the brush and disappeared. Later we all watched as he jumped into a van [on the other side of the border] waiting for him. He seemed fine. It didn't look like he had been hit at all." By that time seven other Border Patrol agents—including two supervisors—were on the scene. Compean, who fired at the fleeing illegal after he was physically attacked by the man, picked up his shell casing. Ramos did not.
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