EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – A man is facing charges of assault on a federal officer in connection with a Feb. 23 confrontation with three U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers at Gateway International Bridge in Brownsville, Texas.
The incident took place after a CBP officer allegedly noticed a smell of marijuana in a 1998 GMC Yukon arriving from Mexico at the port of entry just after midnight with an adult man, and adult woman and three children.
The officer further discovered that one of the passengers did not have proof that he was a United States citizen. A female driver identified as Brenda Rivera was told to proceed to a secondary inspection area; two CBP officers there explained to her they needed everyone to exit so they could search the vehicle.
It was then that the male adult passenger identified as Julio Cesar Pena allegedly became verbally combative and told the officers he “wasn’t going to take his kids out of the (expletive) car,” according to a complaint affidavit filed by the FBI in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas.
The officers called a supervisor to the scene; they then attempted to remove Pena from the SUV. The complaint alleges Pena tried to close the vehicle door the officers had opened, grabbed on to the steering wheel and started kicking, striking the supervisor in the face three times.
The other two officers ran around the SUV and pulled Pena out, but the struggle continued until Pena was forced to the ground and handcuffed, the complaint alleges.
Pena was placed under arrest and taken inside offices at the port of entry. A medical contractor treated the supervisor for facial injuries including a cut lip and one of the officers for back and knee injuries sustained during the struggle.
The officer was taken to a hospital and instructed by a physician not to return to work for four days; the supervisor resumed his duties without further medical treatment, court documents show.
There is no mention of whether CBP found any marijuana in the SUV.
Pena is being held without bond and faces a detention hearing on Thursday before U.S. Magistrate Judge Karen Betancourt in Brownsville. The court appointed a public defender for Pena.
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