Border patrol vehicle appears to deliberately run over native American man (video)

Tensions broke out on June 15 between Arizona federal authorities and the Native American community of the Tohono O’odhan Nation, straddling the US-Mexico border, after incriminating footage emerged.

The video recorded with a mobile phone camera of a Border Patrol vehicle driving off after reportedly hitting an indigenous man has rapidly gone viral on social media, causing outrage and calling for an investigation, as reported by Tucson.

Paul Remes, 34, the alleged victim of the hit-and-run incident, told the Arizona Daily Star that he suffered minor bruising from the impact of the official SUV on June 14, near the village of Topowa, about 70 miles outside Tucson.

The man said he was outside his home when he saw the Border Patrol vehicle approaching. He decided to step out into the dirt road and filmed the entire episode as he could tell what was going to happen.

‘I ran into the dirt road in front of my house, because I know they’ll try and hit me,’ he said, explaining that he was speaking on the landline telephone. ‘I think he saw me on the landline and didn’t think I was recording.’

According to Remes, the vehicle didn’t even slow down after the impact, and the agents turned the sirens on instead, as they fled the scene.

Remes is a member of the Tohono O’odhan Nation, and the tribal collective government body opened an investigation into the disturbing video recording by the victim himself.

The Tohono O’odhan has made the news recently for their fierce opposition to President Donald Trump’s project of a border wall between the U.S. and Mexico because it would divide the trans-national community.

‘Over my dead body will a wall be built. If he decides to build a wall, he’s going to need to come talk to us, unless he wants to see another Standing Rock,’ Verlon Jose, vice chairperson of the Tohono O’odhan Nation told Yes Magazine.

The community has been denouncing the abuses and violence of the Border Patrol agents for years, and the tensions have been escalating recently under Trump’s immigration policies, as Washington Post reported.

As KVOA informed, the Border Patrol has been cooperating with the Tohono O’odham Police Department, stating that:

‘Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Professional Responsibility is actively investigating this incident. Further information will be provided as it becomes available.’

Remes’ neighbor Amy Marie, who posted the video on social media, inviting people to share what the community has been going through, said that this is part of the irregular situations that are taking place.

‘This is what we have to deal with constantly,’ the woman wrote as a comment to her publication. Read more on our Twitter account @amomama_usa