The Border Patrol agent who shot a woman in Chicago last month after she allegedly rammed her vehicle into his SUV works in Maine.
Defense attorneys for the woman, Marimar Martinez, criticized the agency last month after the agent was allowed to drive the damaged SUV back to Maine before the defense could inspect it.
Federal prosecutors confirmed in filings on Monday that the agent is stationed in Maine and was temporarily assigned to northern Illinois, where Border Patrol’s increased presence has come under scrutiny. A spokesperson for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Maine did not respond to questions Wednesday.
The FBI took several pictures of the damaged Chevrolet Tahoe and gathered paint samples before it was returned to Maine and they were shared with the defense early in the case, federal prosecutors said in court records.
Federal prosecutors also said they brought the SUV back to Chicago, after minimal repairs were conducted in Maine, so the defense could examine it on Oct. 30.
“There are many questions that need to be asked regarding not only what happened to this vehicle during the 25 days it was out of the FBI’s chain of custody, but also as to the motivations of the parties who asked for the evidence to be released and later repaired,” Martinez’s attorney Christopher Parente wrote in court records.
Parente told the Press Herald that the agent testified about the incident and SUV during a hearing in federal court Wednesday.
Records don’t identify the agent, or two other agents who were in the SUV the day of the incident. Parente said in court records that the Maine agent is a 23-year veteran of Border Patrol.
Martinez and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz are facing criminal charges related to the Oct. 4 incident in Chicago. Santos Ruiz was also accused of driving his vehicle into the SUV occupied by the three Border Patrol agents, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Illinois’ northern district.
Both Santos Ruiz and Martinez have pleaded not guilty to charges of assaulting federal officers.
The FBI took a dozen pictures of the Border Patrol SUV at the scene where the crash occurred on Oct. 4, prosecutors said in court records.
Federal prosecutors have said that, leading up to the crash, Martinez and Santos Ruiz had pursued the Border Patrol SUV erratically and aggressively, while the agents were acting as a security detail for a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol operation.
According to the complaint, after the SUV was struck, the Maine Border Patrol agent got out of the vehicle and believing Martinez was driving at him fired at her five times. Martinez was later treated at a hospital for her injuries, according to court records.
The FBI transported the SUV to its office in Chicago for pictures and paint samples. The FBI also had computer analysts download data from the SUV’s onboard computer, prosecutors said in court records.
The Maine Border Patrol agent was allowed to take the vehicle that evening and use it for the rest of his assignment in Illinois, which ended Oct. 7. He was allowed to drive the vehicle back to Maine after that, prosecutors said. They added that an assistant U.S. attorney agreed it wouldn’t be an issue.
The vehicle was left in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection garage in Maine on Oct. 10, under constant video surveillance, prosecutors said. Court records don’t specify where in the state the garage is located.
A Border Patrol supervisor signed off on repairs, prosecutors said, “understanding that the vehicle had been fully processed by the FBI and that, therefore, there was no further need to preserve the vehicle’s condition as evidence.”
A mechanic for Border Patrol in Maine began working on the vehicle on Oct. 14. He used brake cleaner on a shop rag and tried wiping scuff marks off the SUV. The mechanic told federal prosecutors he didn’t repair any of the scratches or dents, according to court records.
The Maine Border Patrol agent and his supervisor sent an email to other agents, prohibiting them from touching the SUV. On Oct. 23, the vehicle was returned to Chicago, where prosecutors said defense counsel was allowed to examine it on Oct. 30 at the FBI’s local office.
Parente has argued that the vehicle is a crucial piece of evidence to his client’s defense and that the facts about the crash “are in dispute.”
He alleged that the agent who shot Martinez violated Border Patrol’s use of force policy.
“(The agent’s) justification for the shooting rests in part on the ‘ramming’ of his vehicle and thus he is obviously under great pressure to ensure that nothing interferes with his version of events regarding the ‘ramming,'” Parente wrote in court records. “Once again, (the agent’s) motivation in seeking such a quick repair of the CBP vehicle is certainly worthy of exploration” at the hearing Wednesday.
