Jess Cooke, an Ogdensburg native living in St. Lawrence County and studying criminal justice at SUNY Canton, shared the video on Facebook and it has received more than 400,000 views as of this writing.
The footage appears to begin after Cooke was pulled over for a secondary inspection at a checkpoint by one male Border Patrol agent and one female agent. Cooke argues with the officers regarding why she was being detained. The female responds with “I already told you this,” and “I’m not the only one who observed your nervous behavior,” but neither of the officers gives a direct answer.
The officers tell Cooke the K-9 Unit is on its way. Cooke asks, “Why do you want to get in my trunk when you have no right to?”
Eventually, a male agent asks Cooke to move and she refuses. The man then takes Cooke to the ground before she is tased. Cooke can be heard screaming for more than a minute and yelling
“Get it off me!” before beginning to cry.
The student wrote in her Facebook post, “They cuffed and arrested me and put me in the Border Patrol car while they illegally opened by whole car and trunk.”
According to Cooke, the agents found nothing of concern in her car or trunk.
Shelby Benson-Fuller, a spokesperson for the U.S Border Patrol Swanton Sector, says an official public response to the incident was being prepared as of May 8.
