US trucker found dead hanging in holding cell at Border Patrol checkpoint

McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) -- A U.S. trucker was found dead in a Border Patrol holding cell at a South Texas checkpoint, the agency said.

The 43-year-old male driver was found Feb. 17 hanging inches off the ground with his jacket wrapped around his neck and tied to a privacy partition a few hours after his arrest in Laredo, Texas, according to CBP.

The man, whose identity has not been released, was taken into custody before 7 p.m. CT at the Interstate 35 checkpoint, about 25 miles north of Laredo. Border Patrol agents discovered him dead in his cell at 10:39 p.m. when they went to serve him with papers, the agency said.

"At 10:40 p.m., one agent attempted to lift the driver up by his arms, while another agent used a knife to cut the jacket. Approximately 21 seconds elapsed from when agents first opened the detention cell door to when they successfully removed the jacket from around the driver’s neck. A supervisory agent assessed the driver who remained unresponsive," U.S. Customs nad Border Protection said in a statement.

Agents applied an automated external defibrillator and called for emergency medical services. EMS arrived within 20 minutes and took the man to Doctors Hospital of Laredo but was declared dead by 11:52 p.m., the agency said.

The driver had been detained after Border Patrol agents said they found seven undocumented migrants hiding inside the cab of a red semi-truck that the man had been operating. He had been trying to cross through the heavily fortified checkpoint, commonly called Checkpoint Charley, when a canine unit alerted agents and it was searched.

CBP says the man repeatedly requested to make a phone call to his mother. Agents allowed him to place a monitored call to his mother just before 8:30 p.m., and then was returned to his cell, they said.

Body video cameras recorded several interactions with agents and the man, however, CBP said "the video recording system at the Border Patrol checkpoint was not fully functioning at the time of the incident."

An 8-year-old girl died in CBP custody in South Texas, on May 9 at a holding facility in Harlingen, where video cameras at the CBP facility also had not been working at the time.

According to a 2021 CBP directive on Incident-Driven Video Recording Systems, the devices are to record interactions between CBP officers, Border Patrol agents, Air and Marine agents and the public.

"IDVRS will be used to record official law enforcement encounters, except when doing so may jeopardize CBPOs/BP As/ AMAs or public safety," according to the CBP memo. "When equipped with IDVRS, CBPOs/BP As/ AMAs should record enforcement encounters at the start of the event or as soon as safely possible thereafter and continue recording until the CBPOs/BP As/ AMAs involvement in the encounter has concluded."

Border Report has asked CBP why the video equipment was faulty and if it had been reported. This story will be updated if information is received.