Officer asks accident victim “Are you illegal?” before helping
A Honduran immigrant is thankful for body cameras after his altercation with an officer of the law attended an accident in which the Honduran was a part of.
Marcos Antonio Huete, 31, was hit by a car while riding his bike on his way to work in Key West, Florida. As he lay on the sidewalk on April 27, a Monroe County sheriff asked him repeatedly, “You illegal? Are you a legal citizen or no? Speak English? You got ID? Passport, visa, or what?”
While on the ground he answered with monosyllables until he was able to call his sister who arrived on the scene shortly thereafter.
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His sister, Olga Huete, says that after he was discharged from the hospital a cop told them to go back to the scene of the accident, though he didn’t say why.
“He did not tell us why, but we went back because my brother had not done anything. We had no reason to flee.”
Once they got to the scene her brother was fined $75 by the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles and accused of causing the accident that left him injured. The incident report states that he obstructed/hindered traffic and listed his injury severity as “possible.”
The report claims that Huete “darted out in front” of the truck. The police officer wrote that it was not the 45-year-old woman behind the wheel who was at fault.
That was when Border Patrol agents arrived and demanded to see Huete’s papers as they suspected he was undocumented.
Olga Huete is outraged. She said the woman was allowed to drive away “as if it was nothing” and “the fact that we do not have papers does not mean that we do not have rights,” she added.
The case has caught the attention of any since it appears in the bodycam video that the ambulance is only called for after a second officer asks Huete in Spanish if he needs medical attention.
“Asking for immigration status to a person after being hit by a car offends human rights sensitivity and is very counterproductive for effective law enforcement,” said Howard Simon, executive director of the Florida chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
According to Simon the first officer had an obligation to make sure proper medical care was given to the victim and that these types of incidents only serve to undermine public confidence in the police.
