Body-camera video of a Border Patrol agent involved in the shooting of Marimar Martinez, shows an officer saying, “Do something, b*tch” before pulling over and shooting the woman five times in Chicago, Martinez’s attorney said in federal court on Oct. 6, reports the Chicago Sun-Times:
The video appears to contradict the government’s allegation that Marimar Martinez, 30, drove toward officers before one of them opened fire on her late Saturday morning on Kedzie Avenue near 39th Street, her attorney, Christopher Parente, said at a detention hearing at the Dirksen Federal Courthouse.
U.S. District Judge Heather McShain denied a request by the federal government to detain Martinez and Anthony Ian Santos Ruiz, 21, pending trial. Martinez and Ruiz, who wore orange jumpsuits for the detention hearing, were charged Sunday with felony assault of a federal officer…
Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Hennessy told the judge that Martinez had been following agents for 30 minutes, and Ruiz had been following agents for 20 minutes before the shooting. As she drove, Martinez was broadcasting on Facebook Live for more than 2 minutes, Hennessy said. Video captures her repeatedly sounding her horn and following the vehicles, Hennessy said.
In the charges filed Sunday, prosecutors notably did not mention a loaded gun in Martinez’s car that was referenced in a previous statement by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. But in court Monday, Hennessy said Martinez had a loaded firearm on the passenger side of her car but never brandished it. Martinez’s attorney, Parente, said she has a valid firearm and concealed-carry license.
Parente also offered to play an agent’s body-camera video that shows the shooting, noting prosecutors did not show the video that he claimed disputes the government’s version of the shooting.
Parente said the video shows an agent turning a federal vehicle left into Martinez’s vehicle, after which an agent says, “Do something b—-.” The agent then exits the vehicle and shoots at Martinez.
Parente said Martinez had “seven holes” in her from the shooting and that agents were in such a hurry to take her into custody at the hospital that they had to return later when Martinez began bleeding from her wounds.
Parente disputed the government’s claim that Martinez is a danger to the community and should be detained, saying instead that the officer who shot her was a threat.
(Source: Chicago Sun-Times,