A federal judge ruled a Border Patrol agent was justified in the fatal shooting of a man near the border fence in Douglas.
U.S. District Court Judge James A. Soto said Agent Lucas Tidwell was not liable for the death of Carlos LaMadrid, 19, in the March 21, 2011 shooting that followed a high-speed chase and suspected drug smuggling attempt that ended at the border fence.
Soto's April 25 decision ended a civil lawsuit filed in 2012 by LaMadrid's mother, Guadalupe Guerrero, and tried in July 2015. The lawsuit claimed Tidwell was "grossly negligent" in the shooting. Soto disagreed, saying Tidwell fired his weapon in response to rocks being thrown at him from atop the border fence.
"A reasonable person in Tidwell's position would believe that he was facing unlawful deadly physical force where rocks the size of softballs or bricks are being thrown from 15 feet away and 10 feet above you directly at your head at 50 to 60 miles per hour," Soto wrote.
