Three federal police officers wrestle to the ground and handcuff Jose Oliva at a Veterans Administration hospital in El Paso, Texas, five years ago.
The three federal police officers who brutally assaulted Vietnam veteran José Oliva at a Veterans Administration hospital in El Paso five years ago later claimed he tried to enter the building “without clearing security.” But video of the incident shows that Oliva did nothing to justify the officers’ violence, which caused shoulder injuries requiring two surgeries and left him with “persistent ear and throat issues.”
In a case the Supreme Court is expected to consider for review next week, Oliva argues that he should be able to sue V.A. Officers Mario Nivar, Hector Barahona and Mario Garcia for violating his Fourth Amendment rights. At stake is the question of whether the Court should tolerate what 5th Circuit Judge Don Willett calls a “Constitution-free zone” where citizens can be “brutalized even killed by rogue