X

Waddington Taser incident raises 'serious concerns' for Sen. Gillibrand; more accountability proposed

Posted 6/4/15

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand  has “serious concerns” regarding a lack of transparency and accountability at Customs and Border Protection checkpoints following an incident that led to the Tasing …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

Log in

Waddington Taser incident raises 'serious concerns' for Sen. Gillibrand; more accountability proposed

Posted

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand  has “serious concerns” regarding a lack of transparency and accountability at Customs and Border Protection checkpoints following an incident that led to the Tasing of an Ogdensburg woman last month.

In May, Jess Cooke, 21, said she was pulled in for a secondary inspection after agents said she appeared nervous at the checkpoint. Cooke said she refused a search of her trunk and was asked to wait for a K-9 Unit to arrive.

A conversation with officers escalated and she was tackled and Tased after she resisted an agent who had grabbed her after she refused to comply with a request for her move. A video of the incident can be seen here.

The incident led to public outcry on both sides of the issue. And raised questions about citizen’s rights at checkpoints.

“After learning about the incident last month Senator Gillibrand requested a meeting with Customs and Border Protection to get to the bottom of what happened. Her office met with CBP last week and still has serious concerns about the lack of transparency and accountability. Senator Gillibrand introduced legislation in the last Congress that would fix this problem and require that a record be made of all stops to ensure they are always legitimate, and she plans to re-introduce this legislation again soon,“ Gillibrand’s spokesman Marc Brumer said.

The legislation would require the border agents to document why they stop a person and require them to record the characteristics such as race, gender, ethnicity and approximate age.

If a search is conducted, it would require agents to report if there was consent obtained for the search.

Agents would need to record any behavior that created the suspicious, any items seized and the immigration status of the person who was stopped.

Agents would also need to report if any complaint was made by the person who was stopped.

The bill would require the Department of Homeland Security will have to compile and report this information to Congress annually.

Brumer said the legislation is being reviewed but will be updated and resubmitted soon.