US Politics
Border Patrol agent who went viral over arrest video died of fatal overdose, lawyer says
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A U.S. Border Patrol agent who was identified in a notorious viral video arresting an American citizen this summer and who was awaiting trial after allegedly drunkenly assaulting police officers in California in a separate incident died of a drug overdose, his attorney has said.
Isaiah Hodgson, 29, passed away at his parents’ house in Riverside County in August, but his cause of death has only now come to light after it was revealed to a Long Beach Superior Court judge by the lawyer hired to defend him, The Long Beach Post reports.
The L.A. County Medical Examiner has yet to release an autopsy report, but it is believed that it could further illuminate the circumstances of Hodgson’s death.
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The agent’s troubles began on June 17 when he was one of a team that took part in an immigration raid outside of a large outdoor retail park in Pico Rivera, which turned ugly when Adrian Martinez, a Walmart worker on his lunch break, intervened to try to prevent the detention of a janitor, resulting in a brawl in which Martinez, 20, was overpowered by multiple officers, thrown in the back of a truck and taken away.
“He’s a f***ing legal citizen you f***ing pieces of s***!” someone can be heard screaming in the viral footage, filmed at the scene by a bystander, in which Hodgson was the only agent involved whose face was visible because he wore no mask.
The video was subsequently posted by U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli, who said Martinez was “arrested for an allegation of punching a Border Patrol agent in the face after he attempted to impede their immigration enforcement operation,” urging people not to follow his example.
Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent Greg Bovino also posted the video, saying “a false narrative is and was being pushed out” about the incident, echoing Essayli’s stance on it and attempting to quell outrage over Martinez’s treatment.
The Walmart employee was ultimately held for three days in a downtown Los Angeles detention facility, despite his mother arriving and presenting his birth certificate to prove his nationality, before being released on a $5,000 bond and a single charge of conspiracy to impede or injure a federal agent.
Martinez has since lost his job but has said he has no regrets about trying to “speak up for a man that couldn’t speak up for himself.” He and his attorneys are fighting the federal criminal charge.
Then, on July 7, Hodgson was arrested himself after allegedly wandering drunkenly into the women’s restroom of the Yard House restaurant on Long Beach’s Shoreline Village waterfront wearing a gun and an ammunition clip, despite being off-duty, and asking a female customer out on a date.
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After a security guard called 911 in response to her complaint about his behaviour, Hodgson left the restaurant and was seen pacing the restaurant’s parking lot while armed, hiding his weapon behind a palm tree when police officers arrived to investigate.
When Hodgson failed to respond to their commands to put his hands up, a 90-second struggle ensued in which he was ultimately Tasered, brought down, and handcuffed.
The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office said in a subsequent statement: “When [the officers] arrived, they reportedly observed Hodgson intoxicated and unwilling to cooperate with their commands as they tried to detain him. As Hodgson resisted arrest, he allegedly became agitated and physical with the officers, injuring one of them.”
In body camera footage subsequently obtained by The Long Beach Post, Hodgson can be seen complaining in custody shortly afterwards that he has “already dealt with so much f*****g stress and all this b*****t, man.”
He goes on to imply that he believes his family has been doxed because of his job and says, “I’ve made more than one f*****g mistake. Everyone just f*****g hates me here… People are after me here in Los Angeles.”
After his release on July 9, the DA’s Office charged him with three felony counts of resisting arrest, one felony count of battery on an officer, and three misdemeanor gun charges to which he pleaded not guilty.
He faced up to seven years in prison had he been convicted of those offences, but a month later, he passed away, and they are now expected to be dismissed.
A GoFundMe account set up to help Hodgson’s family meet his funeral expenses described him as “a great man, brother, uncle, and son” and was 96 percent of the way towards its $18,000 fundraising goal at the time of writing.
A Border Patrol spokesperson told The Independent they could not comment on personal matters still under review.
