Reply #8: Judge Rules Against 13 in Elian Raid Suit

[Judi Lynn]

Judge Rules Against 13 in Elian Raid Suit

Saturday May 7, 2005 1:31 AM


By JENNIFER KAY

Associated Press Writer

MIAMI (AP) - A federal judge Friday ruled against awarding damages to 13 people who were tear-gassed by immigration agents during the raid to seize 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez in April 2000.

U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore issued a 19-page decision saying that the demonstrators and bystanders failed to show enough credible evidence that federal officers' use of force during the raid was ``unreasonable under the circumstances.''

The 13 people had sued the government for $3.25 million, claiming they had lingering injuries after they were sprayed at close range while on their own property or behind barricades. Three neighbors testified that an agent gassed them without warning from 2 to 4 feet away as they stood alone in their fenced front yards.

But the judge agreed with the government's argument that officers did not use excessive force and that the plaintiffs failed to show that they were sprayed at close range. The April 22, 2000, raid led to the boy's eventual return to Cuba with his father.
(snip/...)

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4988953,00.html





Congresswoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
brought the kid a toy battleship
in Miami.